The future of the railroad depends on whether George Stephenson's locomotive, 38 cars long, will run or not. The local townspeople debate whether it will go full speed ahead or not budge at all due to its size.

George Stephenson tries out his invention, a steam locomotive. He allows his son, Robert, to ride on it as long as he stays on the edge of the carriage and gets ready to jump off if the rails buckle under the weight of the locomotive... which they do. Luckily his son followed his instructions!

Years of research and trial and error culminated in the invention of the first locomotive on rails. Not bad for a father-and-son experiment. That's what Murdoch and his son George achieved in 1797.

In part two of this series, "Once upon a Time... the Discoverers," Maestro talks about Cugnot, the inventor of the steam traction engine.

In the series "Once Upon a Time... the Discoverers," the Maestro lets off some steam. Some two thousand years ago, Heron invented the steam machine in Alexandria, but it took two millenia to perfect the invention and put it to practical use.

Cortés sets out to conquer Mexico with his four hundred men, sixteen horses, and seven cannons. He is joined later by native forces, the Totonac warriors.

Tension is building between the Aztecs and the Spaniards, not to mention within Cortés's own ranks. Despite this, the conquistador rallies his troops to conquer Mexico.

Cortés exchanges gifts with the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma. An excellent diplomatic move on both sides!

Cortés is negotiating with the friendly natives of Mexico with the help of his interpreter, who had been shipwrecked in a previous expedition and speaks Mayan. They are offered a young woman slave, Malintzin, who speaks Mayan and Aztec.

November 18, 1518... Cortés, the ambitious adventurer, sets out to discover and conquer the unknown empire of Mexico at daybreak before Velasquez has a chance to stop him.

The Aztecs are apprehensive about the arrival of the white men. It is a bad omen. Spanish conqueror Cortés is appointed Captain and will be heading toward new territories.

The Maestro recounts the events just before Ferdinand Magellan's untimely death in 1521, only a year after he discovered the passage that would allow him to circumnavigate the globe.

This new episode of "Il était une fois..." covers Cortés and the Aztecs. The story starts in 1519, when Ferdinand Magellan attempts to circumnavigate the earth. His ship makes it as far as Brazil.

James Bruce, the intrepid Scottish explorer, finally reaches his goal, the source of the Nile... or so he thought. After all his trouble, his exploits are not well received in England. But his legacy will live on.

After curing the queen mother's grandchildren of smallpox, James Bruce meets with the Ethiopian emperor, Tekle Haymanot, to tell him of his plans to discover the source of the Nile. But he soon finds out that he'll have to demonstrate his warrior skills if he wants to reach Lake Tana.