Ronneburg Saxe-Altenburg, 1636

Margarethe Klein looked at the half-carved wooden figure on her workbench and tried not to break out in tears. Even though she had been carving dolls since she was a little girl at her parents' knees, she could not seem to create anything that resembled the up-timers' famous Barbie dolls. In fact, her latest effort resembled something like a monster instead of a graceful lady of fashion.

The image she had acquired after months of searching and most of her savings was of little help. The head had been the easiest part, not dissimilar from the heads Margarethe was used to creating for her regular dolls, the poupee des modesshe made to order, but the body was beyond her. Because the doll in the picture wore a full length gown, Margarethe had no way of knowing the doll's true proportions, how the joints moved, or her true size.

Gazing at the shiny paper she had taken from the magazine Julius Wolf had sold her, Margarethe fervently wished she had access to the market the merchant had told her of, the one called EBay. It sounded like the miracle from the Lord she needed right now. It was almost, almost enough to make one turn Catholic.

If only she could see, touch, hold a real Barbie or one of those others she had heard called Dollar Store Knock Offs. Once Margarethe had a model, she could do so much! Perhaps she could even create Barbie replicas designed to look like famous people as the magazine had advertised!

Just the thought of presenting someone like Gretchen Richter or Rebecca Abrabanel with a miniature doll that looked like one of them, with Margarethe's mark on the back, made her heart ache with frustration. And her hands itched to see what techniques doll-makers in the future had come up with.

Margarethe thought of the Princess Kristina doll that sat on a stool just behind her. The size of an up-timer doll called an AG (which was even more expensive than a Barbie according to the magazine), it was probably the most ambitious doll Margarethe had created, a slightly idealized version of Princess Kristina. It had cost Margarethe much of her savings to get a color portrait of Princess Kristina and even more time to make the molds and get beeswax to create the princess' face, lower arms, and legs. The expensive angora wool for the hair, not to mention the fabrics a trueprincess required was beyond her means at the moment and for some time to come.

"If only. If only!"

****

"So did you get them or not?" Agathe Wolf put her hands on her hips and regarded her husband impatiently. Julius was a good man, and a successful merchant, but sometimes (more often since the Ring of Fire) Agathe felt like taking over the business and leaving the housework to her husband.

Julius smiled at her calmly. "Of course I got them! I said I would, even if I had to search to the ends of the earth, did I not? And I was lucky, I happened to meet the famous Frau Higgins herself at the market and her husband gave me an excellent price on them. Discounted on account of Emma's wedding. And they refused to let me buy them a drink in the tavern. Insisted they do all the business in back and wouldn't go in."

Agathe sniffed, not believing a word her husband said. Always, always soft. Julius could charm an Inquisitor of the Holy Office into buying a copy of Martin Luther's Small Catechismand a Lutheran into buying saint's relics, but when it came to collecting money he would accept a blessing from the Lutheran and a prayer from the Catholic and never see he'd been cheated.

"How much Julius? Don't forget there's still the matter of the wedding feast and Emma's clothes and dowry. We cannot let the Brummes think us stingy or poor."

"Don't worry my love, everything will work out, just as it always does."

Everything works out Julius my love, she thought, because you marriedme. "How much? And if you got these dolls where are they?"

"Be easy Agathe, my love, be easy," Julius said, putting a box on the table. "Here they are."

With a heavy sigh, Agathe tore open the wrapping. "Julius! What in the name of all. How could you have possibly!"

There were definitely two dolls in the box, one a female with breasts so large her tiny waist couldn't possibly have supported them if she had been a human being. The other was a male, thankfully not anatomically complete.

But the woman's leg and one of her hands had been chewed. Her hair had been cut, or styled, to the point where it was a mere stubble. The male doll was in slightly better condition, but had been marked on with several different colors.

"Julius. What. "

"This was all there was, Agathe. I tried, I really did. It took me ages, and all the money I had to buy these. I know they have no garments, but I thought. I mean you're so good with a needle. "

"For mending and embroidery, but fitting clothes? For a figure so misshapen? Honestly I cannot imagine a corset even with the up-timer's materials that would create such a silhouette! I have never seen an up-timer woman, Julius. Do they look like that? They must have to break their ribs! And how could they work like that?"

"I don't know, Agathe. None of the up-timer women I saw had figures like that, nor did I see any of the men who. well. they did seemto be normal in every way if you know what I mean. I did hear of men and women whose job it was to display the latest fashions to merchants. Perhaps this is how they looked."

"I cannot imagine why anyone would do such a thing. It must have been incredibly painful to have your ribs destroyed like that."

"Yes indeed. I must say, my dear, that you are the loveliest woman in the village, especially since all your ribs are intact. I am sure that you will be able to solve this problem and get these dolls suitably garbed for the wedding."

Patting her cheek fondly, Julius took himself off to his business.

Agathe sighed. She knew of course, and so did Julius, that Margarethe Klein, the town dressmaker was the only person suited, but that wasn't the problem. How were they to payto dress the dolls?

"These are very fine, Master Wolf," said Margarethe as she leafed through the sheets. "You're a gifted artist."

Christoph blushed. "Thank you. Papa and Master Brumme think I should stick with learning business but I've always hoped to be an artist. At least with the new roller printers I can combine the two."

Margarethe smiled. "And you've found something no one else is doing. Every printer in the Germanies is busy printing how-tos and political tracts, but who thinks of fashion? Papa and I had to scrimp and pinch to save for a Higgins sewing machine in order to stay in demand with our noble customers, but how are people to know what they want to wear? And who can afford to go to Magdeburg or Paris for clothes? These days I do more business in dolls to display the clothes than the clothes themselves. Any seamstress worth her salt can rescale a pattern, but it's exchanging patterns in the first place! Your papa has been very kind in helping with the shipping, but. There is so much more I could do! I wish I could create a Barbie doll of my own, a 'doll for the masses' as it were."

She waved her hands in the air in exasperation and longing.