English Original
THE BELL
People said, "The Evening Bell is sounding, the sun is setting." For a strange, wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets of a large town. It was like the sound of a church-bell, but it was only heard for a moment, for the rolling of the carriages and the voices of the multitude made too great a noise.
Those persons who were walking outside the town, where the houses were farther apart, with gardens or little fields between them, could see the evening sky still better and heard the sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as if the tones came from a church in the still forest; people looked thitherward and felt their minds attuned most solemnly.
A long time passed, and people said to each other, "I wonder if there is a church out in the wood? The bell has a tone that is wondrous sweet; let us stroll thither and examine the matter nearer." And the rich people drove out, and the poor walked, but the way seemed strangely long to them; and when they came to a clump of willows which grew on the skirts of the forest, they sat down and looked up at the long branches, and fancied they were now in the depth of the green wood. The confectioner of the town came out and set up his booth there; and soon after came another confectioner, who hung a bell over his stand as a sign or ornament, but it had no clapper, and it was tarred over to preserve it from the rain. When all the people returned home, they said it had been very romantic and that it was quite a different sort of thing to a picnic or tea-party. There were three persons who asserted they had penetrated to the end of the forest and that they had always heard the wonderful sounds of the bell, but it had seemed to them as if it had come from the town. One wrote a whole poem about it and said the bell sounded like the voice of a mother to a good dear child, and that no melody was sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of the country was also observant of it and vowed that he who could discover whence the sounds proceeded should have the title of "Universal Bell-ringer," even if it were not really a bell.
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 anemones 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.
"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, sky-blue tulips which shone as they waved in the winds, and apple-trees, the apples of which looked exactly like large soap-bubbles: 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!
中文翻译
钟声
人们说：“晚钟响了，太阳落山了。”因为在一个大城镇狭窄的街道上，人们听到了一种奇异而美妙的音调。它像教堂的钟声，但只持续了片刻，因为马车的隆隆声和人群的喧闹声太大了。
那些在城外散步的人，那里的房屋相距较远，中间有花园或小田野，他们能更好地看到傍晚的天空，也更清晰地听到钟声。那声音仿佛来自寂静森林中的一座教堂；人们朝那个方向望去，内心感到无比庄严。
过了很久，人们互相说道：“我想知道森林里是不是有座教堂？那钟声美妙极了；我们不妨去那里走走，把事情弄个明白。”于是富人驾车前往，穷人步行而去，但路对他们来说似乎出奇地长；当他们来到森林边缘的一丛柳树前时，便坐下来，抬头望着长长的枝条，幻想自己已身处绿林深处。城里的糖果商也来了，在那里搭起了摊位；不久又来了另一个糖果商，他在摊位上挂了一口钟作为招牌或装饰，但这口钟没有钟舌，而且涂了焦油以防雨淋。当所有人回到家时，都说这次经历非常浪漫，与野餐或茶会完全不同。有三个人声称他们走到了森林的尽头，并且一直听到那美妙的钟声，但对他们来说，那声音似乎来自城镇。其中一人为此写了一整首诗，说钟声就像母亲对心爱孩子说话的声音，没有什么旋律比这钟声更甜美了。国王也注意到了这件事，并立誓说，谁能发现声音的来源，谁就能获得“世界敲钟人”的头衔，即使那并非真正的钟。
许多人为了得到这个职位而前往森林，但只有一个人带着某种解释回来；因为没有人走得足够远，那个人也并不比别人走得更远。然而，他说声音来自一棵空心树里的一只非常大的猫头鹰；那是一种博学的猫头鹰，不断地用头撞击树枝。但这声音是来自它的头还是空心树，没人能肯定。于是他现在得到了“世界敲钟人”的职位，并每年写一篇关于猫头鹰的短文；但大家和以前一样，并没有变得更聪明。
那是坚信礼的日子。牧师的讲话如此感人，受坚信礼的孩子们深受感动；这对他们来说是重要的一天；他们从孩子一下子变成了成年人；仿佛他们稚嫩的灵魂此刻要一下子飞入更有理解力的人身上。阳光灿烂；受过坚信礼的孩子们走出城镇；从森林里传来了那未知钟声，异常清晰。他们立刻都想去那里；除了三个人。其中一个必须回家试穿舞会礼服；因为正是这件礼服和舞会促使她这次来受坚信礼，否则她就不会来；另一个是个穷孩子，他从旅店老板的儿子那里借来了外套和靴子参加坚信礼，他必须在某个时间归还；第三个说，如果父母不在身边，他从不独自去陌生的地方——他一直是个好孩子，即使受了坚信礼也依然如此，人们不应该为此嘲笑他：然而，其他人终究还是取笑了他。
因此，有三个人没有去；其他人则匆匆前行。阳光明媚，鸟儿歌唱，孩子们也唱着歌，彼此手拉着手；因为他们还没有任何高官显职，在上帝眼中都是平等的。
但两个最小的孩子很快就累了，都回到了城里；两个小女孩坐下来编织花环，所以她们也没去；当其他人到达糖果商所在的柳树旁时，他们说：“我们到了！实际上钟并不存在；这只是人们凭空想象出来的！”
就在这时，钟声从森林深处传来，如此清晰而庄严，以至于五六个人决定再深入一些。树林如此茂密，树叶如此浓密，前行相当费力。车叶草和银莲花长得几乎太高了；盛开的旋花和黑莓灌木像长长的花环一样从一棵树挂到另一棵树，夜莺在那里歌唱，阳光在那里嬉戏：景色非常美丽，但这地方不适合女孩去；她们的衣服会被撕破。那里躺着大块的石头，上面长满了各种颜色的苔藓；新鲜的泉水汩汩涌出，发出奇怪的咕噜声。
“那肯定不是钟声，”其中一个孩子躺下来听着说。“这得好好看看。”于是他留了下来，让其他人继续前进。
他们后来来到一座用树枝和树皮搭成的小屋；一棵巨大的野苹果树弯向它，仿佛要将所有的祝福倾泻在开满玫瑰花的屋顶上。长长的茎蔓缠绕着山墙，上面挂着一口小钟。
这就是人们听到的那个声音吗？是的，除了一个人，大家都一致认为是。那个人说这口钟太小太精致，不可能在那么远的距离被听到，而且它的音调与那种能如此打动人心灵的声音完全不同。说话的是国王的儿子；于是其他人说：“这种人总想比别人聪明。”
他们现在让他独自前行；他走着走着，胸中越来越充满森林的孤寂；但他仍然听到其他人很满意的那口小钟的声音，偶尔，当风吹过时，他也能听到糖果商帐篷里喝茶唱歌的人们的声音；但那深沉的钟声越来越响；几乎像有风琴在伴奏，而且声音来自左边，心脏所在的那一侧。灌木丛中传来沙沙声，一个小男孩站在国王的儿子面前，他穿着木鞋，上衣短得连手腕都露出来了。两人都认识对方：这个男孩就是那些孩子中因为必须回家归还从旅店老板儿子那里借来的外套和靴子而不能来的那个。他已经还了衣服，现在穿着木鞋和寒酸的衣服继续前行，因为钟声如此深沉，具有如此奇异的力量，他必须前行。
“那么，我们可以一起走，”国王的儿子说。但那个受过坚信礼的穷孩子非常羞愧；他看着自己的木鞋，拉了拉上衣的短袖，说他恐怕走不了那么快；此外，他认为钟声一定在右边寻找；因为那里是能找到各种美丽事物的地方。
“但那样我们就不会相遇了，”国王的儿子说，同时向那个穷孩子点了点头，孩子走进了森林最黑暗、最茂密的地方，荆棘撕破了他寒酸的衣服，划伤了他的脸、手和脚，直到流血。国王的儿子也受了一些伤；但阳光照耀着他的道路，我们将跟随他，因为他是一个优秀而坚定的青年。
“我必须也一定会找到那口钟，”他说，“即使我不得不走到世界的尽头。”
丑陋的猿猴坐在树上，龇牙咧嘴。“我们要揍他吗？”它们说。“我们要揍他吗？他是国王的儿子！”
但他没有气馁，继续前行，越来越深入森林，那里生长着最奇异的花朵。有带着血红花蕊的白色百合，有天蓝色的郁金香在风中摇曳生辉，还有苹果树，苹果看起来就像巨大的肥皂泡：想想看，这些树在阳光下该是多么闪耀！在最美丽的绿色草地上，鹿儿在草丛中嬉戏，周围生长着壮丽的橡树和山毛榉；如果一棵树的树皮裂开了，裂缝里就会长出草和长长的匍匐植物。那里还有平静的大湖，白天鹅在里面游弋，拍打着翅膀。国王的儿子常常停下来倾听。他以为钟声来自这些平静湖泊的深处；但随后他又注意到，声音并非来自那里，而是来自更远的地方，来自森林深处。
太阳现在落山了：天空像火一样燃烧。森林里一片寂静，非常寂静；他跪下来，唱起晚祷歌，说道：“我找不到我所寻求的东西；太阳正在下山，黑夜即将来临——那黑暗，黑暗的夜。但也许我还能在它完全消失之前再看一眼那轮红日。我要爬上那边的岩石。”
他抓住匍匐植物和树根——爬上潮湿的石头，那里水蛇在扭动，蟾蜍在呱呱叫——在太阳完全落山之前，他登上了顶峰。从这高处看到的景象是多么壮丽啊！大海——那伟大、辉煌的大海，用它长长的波浪拍打着海岸——展现在他面前。远处，海天相接之处，太阳矗立着，像一座巨大的闪亮祭坛，所有最炽热的色彩都融合在一起。森林和大海唱起欢乐的歌，他的心也一同歌唱：整个自然是一座广阔的圣殿，树木和轻盈的云朵是它的柱子，鲜花和青草是它的天鹅绒地毯，天空本身就是巨大的穹顶。太阳消失后，上方的红色渐渐褪去，但百万颗星星被点亮，百万盏灯在闪耀；国王的儿子向天空、森林和大海张开双臂；就在这时，从右边的小路上，出现了那个和他一起受坚信礼的穷孩子，穿着木鞋和短上衣。他走着自己的路，和国王的儿子同时到达了那个地方。他们奔向彼此，手拉手站在这自然与诗歌的广阔圣殿中，无形的圣钟在他们头顶鸣响：幸福的精灵在他们周围飘荡，齐声高唱欢乐的哈利路亚！