THE BELL故事

　　 IN the narrow streets of a large town people often heard

　　 in the evening, when the sun was setting, and his last rays

　　 gave a golden tint to the chimney-pots, a strange noise which

　　 resembled the sound of a church bell; it only lasted an

　　 instant, for it was lost in the continual roar of traffic and

　　 hum of voices which rose from the town. "The evening bell is

　　 ringing," people used to say; "the sun is setting!" Those who

　　 walked outside the town, where the houses were less crowded

　　 and interspersed by gardens and little fields, saw the evening

　　 sky much better, and heard the sound of the bell much more

　　 clearly. It seemed as though the sound came from a church,

　　 deep in the calm, fragrant wood, and thither people looked

　　 with devout feelings.

　　 A considerable time elapsed: one said to the other, "I

　　 really wonder if there is a church out in the wood. The bell

　　 has indeed a strange sweet sound! Shall we go there and see

　　 what the cause of it is?" The rich drove, the poor walked, but

　　 the way seemed to them extraordinarily long, and when they

　　 arrived at a number of willow trees on the border of the wood

　　 they sat down, looked up into the great branches and thought

　　 they were now really in the wood. A confectioner from the town

　　 also came out and put up a stall there; then came another

　　 confectioner who hung a bell over his stall, which was covered

　　 with pitch to protect it from the rain, but the clapper was

　　 wanting.

　　 When people came home they used to say that it had been

　　 very romantic, and that really means something else than

　　 merely taking tea. Three persons declared that they had gone

　　 as far as the end of the wood; they had always heard the

　　 strange sound, but there it seemed to them as if it came from

　　 the town. One of them wrote verses about the bell, and said

　　 that it was like the voice of a mother speaking to an

　　 intelligent and beloved child; no tune, he said, was sweeter

　　 than the sound of the bell.

　　 The emperor of the country heard of it, and declared that

　　 he who would really find out where the sound came from should

　　 receive the title of "Bellringer to the World," even if there

　　 was no bell at all.

　　 Now many went out into the wood for the sake of this

　　 splendid berth; but only one of them came back with some sort

　　 of explanation. None of them had gone far enough, nor had he,

　　 and yet he said that the sound of the bell came from a large

　　 owl in a hollow tree. It was a wisdom owl, which continually

　　 knocked its head against the tree, but he was unable to say

　　 with certainty whether its head or the hollow trunk of the

　　 tree was the cause of the noise.

　　 He was appointed "Bellringer to the World," and wrote

　　 every year a short dissertation on the owl, but by this means

　　 people did not become any wiser than they had been before.

　　 It was just confirmation-day. The clergyman had delivered

　　 a beautiful and touchingsermon, the candidates were deeply

　　 moved by it; it was indeed a very important day for them; they

　　 were all at once transformed from mere children to grown-up

　　 people; the childish soul was to fly over, as it were, into a

　　 more reasonable being.

　　 The sun shone most brightly; and the sound of the great

　　 unknown bell was heard more distinctly than ever. They had a

　　 mind to go thither, all except three. One of them wished to go

　　 home and try on her ball dress, for this very dress and the

　　 ball were the cause of her being confirmed this time,

　　 otherwise she would not have been allowed to go. The second, a

　　 poor boy, had borrowed a coat and a pair of boots from the son

　　 of his landlord to be confirmed in, and he had to return them

　　 at a certain time. The third said that he n

　　ever went into

　　 strange places if his parents were not with him; he had always

　　 been a good child, and wished to remain so, even after being

　　 confirmed, and they ought not to tease him for this; they,

　　 however, did it all the same. These three, therefore did not

　　 go; the others went on. The sun was shining, the birds were

　　 singing, and the confirmed children sang too, holding each

　　 other by the hand, for they had no position yet, and they were

　　 all equal in the eyes of God. Two of the smallest soon became

　　 tired and returned to the town; two little girls sat down and

　　 made garlands of flowers, they, therefore, did not go on. When

　　 the others arrived at the willow trees, where the confectioner

　　 had put up his stall, they said: "Now we are out here; the

　　 bell does not in reality exist- it is only something that

　　 people imagine!"

　　 Then suddenly the sound of the bell was heard so

　　 beautifully and solemnly from the wood that four or five made

　　 up their minds to go still further on. The wood was very

　　 thickly grown. It was difficult to advance: wood lilies and

　　 anemones grew almost too high; flowering convolvuli and

　　 brambles were hanging like garlands from tree to tree; while

　　 the nightingales were singing and the sunbeams played. That

　　 was very beautiful! But the way was unfit for the girls; they

　　 would have torn their dresses. Large rocks, covered with moss

　　 of various hues, were lying about; the fresh spring water

　　 rippled forth with a peculiar sound. "I don't think that can

　　 be the bell," said one of the confirmed children, and then he

　　 lay down and listened. "We must try to find out if it is!" And

　　 there he remained, and let the others walk on.

　　 They came to a hut built of the bark of trees and

　　 branches; a large crab-apple tree spread its branches over it,

　　 as if it intended to pour all its fruit on the roof, upon

　　 which roses were blooming; the long boughs covered the gable,

　　 where a little bell was hanging. Was this the one they had

　　 heard? All agreed that it must be so, except one who said that

　　 the bell was too small and too thin to be heard at such a

　　 distance, and that it had quite a different sound to that

　　 which had so touched men's hearts.

　　 He who spoke was a king's son, and therefore the others

　　 said that such a one always wishes to be cleverer than other

　　 people.

　　 Therefore they let him go alone; and as he walked on, the

　　 solitude of the wood produced a feeling of reverence in his

　　 breast; but still he heard the little bell about which the

　　 others rejoiced, and sometimes, when the wind blew in that

　　 direction, he could hear the sounds from the confectioner's

　　 stall, where the others were singing at tea. But the deep

　　 sounds of the bell were much stronger; soon it seemed to him

　　 as if an organ played an accompaniment- the sound came from

　　 the left, from the side where the heart is. Now something

　　 rustled among the bushes, and a little boy stood before the

　　 king's son, in wooden shoes and such a short jacket that the

　　 sleeves did not reach to his wrists. They knew each other: the

　　 boy was the one who had not been able to go with them because

　　 he had to take the coat and boots back to his landlord's son.

　　 That he had done, and had started again in his wooden shoes

　　 and old clothes, for the sound of the bell was too enticing-

　　 he felt he must go on.

　　 "We might go together," said the king's son. But the poor

　　 boy with the wooden shoes was quite ashamed; he pulled at the

　　 short sleeves of his jacket, and said that he was afraid he

　　 could not walk so fast; besides, he was of opinion that the

　　 bell ought to be sought at the right, for there was all that

　　 was grand and magnificent.

　　 "Then we shall not meet," said the king's son, nodding to

　　 the poor boy, who went into the deepest part of the wood,

　　 where the thorns tore his shabby clothes and scratched his

　　 hands, face, and feet until they bled. The king's son also

　　 received several good scratches, but the sun was shining on

　　 his way, and it is he whom we will now follow, for he was a

　　 quick fellow. "I will and must find the bell," he said, "if I

　　 have to go to the end of the world."

　　 Ugly monkeys sat high in the branches and clenched their

　　 teeth. "Shall we beat him?" they said. "Shall we thrash him?

　　 He is a king's son!"

　　 But he walked on undaunted, deeper and deeper into the

　　 wood, where the most wonderful flowers were growing; there

　　 were standing white star lilies with blood-red stamens,

　　 sky-blue tulips shining when the wind moved them; apple-trees

　　 covered with apples like large glittering soap bubbles: only

　　 think how resplendent these trees were in the sunshine! All

　　 around were beautiful green meadows, where hart and hind

　　 played in the grass. There grew magnificent oaks and

　　 beech-trees; and if the bark was split of any of them, long

　　 blades of grass grew out of the clefts; there were also large

　　 smooth lakes in the wood, on which the swans were swimming

　　 about and flapping their wings. The king's son often stood

　　 still and listened; sometimes he thought that the sound of the

　　 bell rose up to him out of one of these deep lakes, but soon

　　 he found that this was a mistake, and that the bell was

　　 ringing still farther in the wood. Then the sun set, the

　　 clouds were as red as fire; it became quiet in the wood; he

　　 sank down on his knees, sang an evening hymn and said: "I

　　 shall never find what I am looking for! Now the sun is

　　 setting, and the night, the dark night, is approaching. Yet I

　　 may perhaps see the round sun once more before he disappears

　　 beneath the horizon. I will climb up these rocks, they are as

　　 high as the highest trees!" And then, taking hold of the

　　 creepers and roots, he climbed up on the wet stones, where

　　 water-snakes were wriggling and the toads, as it were, barked

　　 at him: he reached the top before the sun, seen from such a

　　 height, had quite set. "Oh, what a splendour!" The sea, the

　　 great majestic sea, which was rolling its long waves against

　　 the shore, stretched out before him, and the sun was standing

　　 like a large bright altar and there where sea and heaven met-

　　 all melted together in the most glowing colours; the wood was

　　 singing, and his heart too. The whole of nature was one large

　　 holy church, in which the trees and hovering clouds formed the

　　 pillars, the flowers and grass the woven velvet carpet, and

　　 heaven itself was the great cupola; up there the flame colour

　　 vanished as soon as the sun disappeared, but millions of stars

　　 were lighted; diamond lamps were shining, and the king's son

　　 stretched his arms out towards heaven, towards the sea, and

　　 towards the wood. Then suddenly the poor boy with the

　　 short-sleeved jacket and the wooden shoes appeared; he had

　　 arrived just as quickly on the road he had chosen. And they

　　 ran towards each other and took one another's hand, in the

　　 great cathedral of nature and poesy, and above them sounded

　　 the invisible holy bell; happy spirits surrounded them,

　　 singing hallelujahs and rejoicing.

　　 THE END