A church bell tolled¹ and its echo² reached the streets. The sound of the bell seemed to be from a forest.

The Bell

The people thought the bell sounded strange and went into the forest to find the bell. One day, the king said to his people, "Anyone who finds out where the sound of the bell comes from, I will give a high position."

A lot of people went into the forest. No one could find out where it came from. Then, one man found where the sound came from. It came when a giant owl³ hit its body against a tree. But he didn't know which tree it was.

He got a prize from the king, but nothing had changed. One day, a group of children went into the forest. They all wanted to find the sound of the bell.

All the children went into the forest, but three children didn't. After a short while, some of them were exhausted⁴. Many of them went back to the town. The rest of the children in the forest said, "We've been searching everywhere, but there is no 'bell'."

At that moment, a bell sound came from deep in the forest. They went deeper into the woods. Then, they heard water flowing. "Hey! What do you think is that sound?

The boys were all curious about the sound. "No, this is not the sound we heard." One of the boys answered. He was a prince. The rest of them all went back to town. The prince started to go into the forest all by himself from then on.

But one day, a poor boy came up in front of him. "I'll go with you. But I can't walk as fast as you, because of my wooden shoes." The poor boy walked toward the forest. The prince walked as fast as the poor boy did. "I will find the bell in the end!"

Around sunset, the forest became peaceful and quiet. The prince went deeper in to the woods. He climbed up a cliff. He got to the top of it before sunset. He looked down at the broad sea. It was very beautiful.

Then, the tune⁵ of the forest came from somewhere. He also could hear the tune of the sea. He stretched his arms toward the sky, sea and forest. As soon as the poor boy held the prince's hand, the holy sound of the bell echoed⁶ all around.