Alisa Duel, age 9, of Ringwood, Oklahoma, for her question:

How long is a league?

In olden days they told many tales about giants with seven league boots. Those whopping characters could take strides seven leagues long    or so everybody thought. But even in those days, people were not too sure about how long a seven league stride really was. It depended upon where the giant came from. If he was an English giant, his seven league stride measured 21 miles. For the English league was equal to three ordinary miles.

If the giant happened to be from France, his strides were a little longer than 16 1/2 miles. The French league measured almost 2 1/2 miles. A Spanish giant tootc slightly longer strides. Columbus used the Spanish league to measure the ocean waters. It was a little longer than 2 1/2 miles. An Italian seven league giant could stride 22 1/4 miles. Of course, we know that all these whopping giants and their seven league boots were make believe. But in olden days people measured journeys in leagues and also used leagues to measure ocean voyages and the depth of the sea. But each country chose just how long its own league should be.