It’s easy to imagine the benefits of stilt-walking in a marshy, wet, and flat landscape. Of course, you’d have further to fall if you stumbled, but the stilt-walking culture of Landes area of France meant that you wouldn’t fall, since you had learned the art of les échasses when you were very small. Plus, you carried a third, long stick so you could balance, tripod-style, if you needed to rest.