We
should have found the Indies even if you had not."
To this speech Columbus answered nothing, but he asked for an egg
to be brought to him. When it was brought he placed it on the table
saying, "Sirs, I will lay a wager with any of you that you cannot
make this egg stand up without anything at all to support it."
One after the other they tried, but no one could do it. At length
it came round to Columbus again. And he, taking it in his hand,
struck it sharply on the table so that one end was chipped a little,
and it stood upright.
"That, my lord, is my answer, " he said, looking at the courtier
who had scoffed. And all the company were silent. For they saw he
was well answered. Columbus had shown that after a deed is once done
it is simple, and every one knows how to do it. What he had done
in sailing across the Sea of Darkness was only wonderful because
no one ,else had thought of doing it.
Portugal was now very jealous of Spain's success, and King Ferdinand
of Spain was fearful lest King John of Portugal should seize the
new islands which Columbus had discovered. So he appealed to the
Pope to settle the matter. And the Pope decided that all new lands
discovered west of an imaginary line drawn through the Atlantic
Ocean west of the Azores and from pole to pole should belong to
Spain. All discoveries east of this line should belong to Portugal.
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