Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/375

 ferry-boats. He could not rest satisfied until he had bridged-over the intervening strip of sea; and he therefore summoned the potent genii of the lamp, who helped him to form a magical roadway in mid-air. This cobweb-like structure is known as the Suspension Bridge of Telford. In course of time, however, Aladdin began to wish for a more substantial fabric, across which he might urge his steam-drawn chariot. To obtain such a bridge as he desired, he sought the aid of a potent magician, who had long been famed for his power over the genii of the lamp.

In plain language, a railway bridge across the Menai Straits was required, and its construction was left to Mr. Robert Stephenson. The seven labours of Hercules were insignificant tasks compared with that which the railway authorities set before the great engineer, perfectly satisfied that he would accomplish it by some means or other. Yet the difficulties which Stephenson had to contend with seemed insurmountable, and a less daring genius would have shrunk from encountering them.

Those captive princesses of fairy lore who were doomed to draw water from a well without a bucket, to catch fish without a net, and to spin a thread without either wheel or distaff, were not more unfortunately situated than was Robert Stephenson, though he has never yet been made the hero of a romantic story.

"You must build a bridge," said his employers,