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Page 47
"But there we shall not meet," said the King's Son, nodding at the same time
to the poor boy, who went into the darkest, thickest part of the wood, where
thorns tore his humble dress, and scratched his face and hands and feet till
they bled. The King's Son got some scratches too; but the sun shone on his
path, and it is him that we will follow, for he was an excellent and resolute
youth.
"I must and will find the bell," said he, "even if I am obliged to go to the
end of the world."
The ugly apes sat upon the trees, and grinned. "Shall we thrash him?" said
they. "Shall we thrash him? He is the son of a king!"
But on he went, without being disheartened, deeper and deeper into the wood,
where the most wonderful flowers were growing. There stood white lilies with
blood-red stamina, skyblue tulips, which shone as they waved in the winds, and
apple-trees, the apples of which looked exactly like large soapbubbles: so
only think how the trees must have sparkled in the sunshine! Around the nicest
green meads, where the deer were playing in the grass, grew magnificent oaks
and beeches; and if the bark of one of the trees was cracked, there grass and
long creeping plants grew in the crevices. And there were large calm lakes
there too, in which white swans were swimming, and beat the air with their
wings. The King's Son often stood still and listened. He thought the bell
sounded from the depths of these still lakes; but then he remarked again that
the tone proceeded not from there, but farther off, from out the depths of the
forest.
The sun now set: the atmosphere glowed like fire. It was still in the woods,
so very still; and he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said: "I
cannot find what I seek; the sun is going down, and night is coming--the dark,
dark night. Yet perhaps I may be able once more to see the round red sun
before he entirely disappears. I will climb up yonder rock."
And he seized hold of the creeping-plants, and the roots of trees--climbed up
the moist stones where the water-snakes were writhing and the toads were
croaking--and he gained the summit before the sun had quite gone down. How
magnificent was the sight from this height! The sea--the great, the glorious
sea, that dashed its long waves against the coast--was stretched out before
him. And yonder, where sea and sky meet, stood the sun, like a large shining
altar, all melted together in the most glowing colors. And the wood and the
sea sang a song of rejoicing, and his heart sang with the rest: all nature was
a vast holy church, in which the trees and the buoyant clouds were the
pillars, flowers and grass the velvet carpeting, and heaven itself the large
cupola. The red colors above faded away as the sun vanished, but a million
stars were lighted, a million lamps shone; and the King's Son spread out his
arms towards heaven, and wood, and sea; when at the same moment, coming by a
path to the right, appeared, in his wooden shoes and jacket, the poor boy who
had been confirmed with him. He had followed his own path, and had reached the
spot just as soon as the son of the king had done. They ran towards each
other, and stood together hand in hand in the vast church of nature and of
poetry, while over them sounded the invisible holy bell: blessed spirits
floated around them, and lifted up their voices in a rejoicing hallelujah!
THE OLD HOUSE
In the street, up there, was an old, a very old house--it was almost three
hundred years old, for that might be known by reading the great beam on which
the date of the year was carved: together with tulips and hop-binds there were
whole verses spelled as in former times, and over every window was a distorted
face cut out in the beam. The one story stood forward a great way over the
other; and directly under the eaves was a leaden spout with a dragon's head;
the rain-water should have run out of the mouth, but it ran out of the belly,
for there was a hole in the spout.
All the other houses in the street were so new and so neat, with large window
panes and smooth walls, one could easily see that they would have nothing to
do with the old house: they certainly thought, "How long is that old decayed
thing to stand here as a spectacle in the street? And then the projecting
windows stand so far out, that no one can see from our windows what happens in
that direction! The steps are as broad as those of a palace, and as high as to
a church tower. The iron railings look just like the door to an old family
vault, and then they have brass tops--that's so stupid!"
On the other side of the street were also new and neat houses, and they
thought just as the others did; but at the window opposite the old house there
sat a little boy with fresh rosy cheeks and bright beaming eyes: he certainly
liked the old house best, and that both in sunshine and moonshine. And when he
looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and
find out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had
appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could
see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and
serpents. That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore
plush breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one
could see was a real wig. Every morning there came an old fellow to him who
put his rooms in order, and went on errands; otherwise, the old man in the
plush breeches was quite alone in the old house. Now and then he came to the
window and looked out, and the little boy nodded to him, and the old man
nodded again, and so they became acquaintances, and then they were friends,
although they had never spoken to each other--but that made no difference. The
little boy heard his parents say, "The old man opposite is very well off, but
he is so very, very lonely!"
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