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Page 46
Many persons now went to the wood, for the sake of getting the place, but one
only returned with a sort of explanation; for nobody went far enough, that one
not further than the others. However, he said that the sound proceeded from a
very large owl, in a hollow tree; a sort of learned owl, that continually
knocked its head against the branches. But whether the sound came from
his head or from the hollow tree, that no one could say with certainty. So now
he got the place of "Universal Bell-ringer," and wrote yearly a short treatise
"On the Owl"; but everybody was just as wise as before.
It was the day of confirmation. The clergyman had spoken so touchingly, the
children who were confirmed had been greatly moved; it was an eventful day for
them; from children they become all at once grown-up-persons; it was as if
their infant souls were now to fly all at once into persons with more
understanding. The sun was shining gloriously; the children that had been
confirmed went out of the town; and from the wood was borne towards them the
sounds of the unknown bell with wonderful distinctness. They all immediately
felt a wish to go thither; all except three. One of them had to go home to try
on a ball-dress; for it was just the dress and the ball which had caused her
to be confirmed this time, for otherwise she would not have come; the other
was a poor boy, who had borrowed his coat and boots to be confirmed in from
the innkeeper's son, and he was to give them back by a certain hour; the third
said that he never went to a strange place if his parents were not with
him--that he had always been a good boy hitherto, and would still be so now
that he was confirmed, and that one ought not to laugh at him for it: the
others, however, did make fun of him, after all.
There were three, therefore, that did not go; the others hastened on. The sun
shone, the birds sang, and the children sang too, and each held the other by
the hand; for as yet they had none of them any high office, and were all of
equal rank in the eye of God.
But two of the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town; two little
girls sat down, and twined garlands, so they did not go either; and when the
others reached the willow-tree, where the confectioner was, they said, "Now we
are there! In reality the bell does not exist; it is only a fancy that people
have taken into their heads!"
At the same moment the bell sounded deep in the wood, so clear and solemnly
that five or six determined to penetrate somewhat further. It was so thick,
and the foliage so dense, that it was quite fatiguing to proceed. Woodroof and
anemonies grew almost too high; blooming convolvuluses and blackberry-bushes
hung in long garlands from tree to tree, where the nightingale sang and the
sunbeams were playing: it was very beautiful, but it was no place for girls to
go; their clothes would get so torn. Large blocks of stone lay there,
overgrown with moss of every color; the fresh spring bubbled forth, and made a
strange gurgling sound.
"That surely cannot be the bell," said one of the children, lying down and
listening. "This must be looked to." So he remained, and let the others go on
without him.
They afterwards came to a little house, made of branches and the bark of
trees; a large wild apple-tree bent over it, as if it would shower down all
its blessings on the roof, where roses were blooming. The long stems twined
round the gable, on which there hung a small bell.
Was it that which people had heard? Yes, everybody was unanimous on the
subject, except one, who said that the bell was too small and too fine to be
heard at so great a distance, and besides it was very different tones to those
that could move a human heart in such a manner. It was a king's son who spoke;
whereon the others said, "Such people always want to be wiser than everybody
else."
They now let him go on alone; and as he went, his breast was filled more and
more with the forest solitude; but he still heard the little bell with which
the others were so satisfied, and now and then, when the wind blew, he could
also hear the people singing who were sitting at tea where the confectioner
had his tent; but the deep sound of the bell rose louder; it was almost as if
an organ were accompanying it, and the tones came from the left hand, the side
where the heart is placed. A rustling was heard in the bushes, and a little
boy stood before the King's Son, a boy in wooden shoes, and with so short a
jacket that one could see what long wrists he had. Both knew each other: the
boy was that one among the children who could not come because he had to go
home and return his jacket and boots to the innkeeper's son. This he had done,
and was now going on in wooden shoes and in his humble dress, for the bell
sounded with so deep a tone, and with such strange power, that proceed he
must.
"Why, then, we can go together," said the King's Son. But the poor child that
had been confirmed was quite ashamed; he looked at his wooden shoes, pulled at
the short sleeves of his jacket, and said that he was afraid he could not walk
so fast; besides, he thought that the bell must be looked for to the right;
for that was the place where all sorts of beautiful things were to be found.
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