Dandy horse

You sat on a wooden frame, balanced on two wheels, and walked or ran your feet along the ground to move.

He called it the Laufmaschine, the running machine, but it could travel faster than walking, and he covered about four or five miles on his first documented ride.

So the ancestor of the bicycle was a very dignified, grown man scooting along a road with his feet.

And it worked.

The Laufmaschine required no feed, no stable, and no oats.

It became known as the hobby horse or the dandy horse and spread across Europe and Britain.

People thought it was remarkable and also quite funny to watch.

You told me that harvests failed and food prices soared.