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THE one who could do the most incredible thing should have the king’s daughter and the half of his kingdom.
The young men, and even the old ones, strained all their thoughts,
sinews, and muscles; two ate themselves to death, and one drank until he
died, to do the most incredible thing according to their own taste, but
it was not in this way it was to be done. Little boys in the streets
practised spitting on their own backs, they considered that the most
incredible thing.
On a certain day an exhibition was to be held of what each had to show
as the most incredible. The judges who were chosen were children from
three years old to people up in the sixties. There was a whole
exhibition of incredible things, but all soon agreed that the most
incredible was a huge clock in a case marvellously designed inside and
out.
On the stroke of every hour living figures came out, which showed what
hour was striking: there were twelve representations in all, with moving
figures and with music and conversation.
“That was the most incredible thing,” the people said.
The clock struck one, and Moses stood on the mountain and wrote down on the tables of the law the first commandment, “There is only one true God.”
The clock struck two, and the garden of Eden appeared, where Adam and Eve met, happy both of them, without having so much as a wardrobe; they did not need one either.
On the stroke of three, the three kings from the East were shown; one
of them was coal-black, but he could not, help that,—the sun had
blackened him. They came with incense and treasures.
On the stroke of four came the four seasons: spring with a cuckoo on a
budding beech-bough; summer with a grasshopper on a stalk of ripe corn;
autumn with an empty stork’s nest-the birds were flown; winter with an
old crow which could tell stories in the chimney-corner, old memories.
When the clock struck five, the five senses appeared sight as a
spectacle-maker, hearing as a coppersmith, smell sold violets and
woodruff, taste was cook, and feeling was an undertaker with crape down
to his heels.
The clock struck six; and there sat a gambler who threw the dice, and the highest side was turned up and showed six.
Then came the seven days of the week, or the seven deadly sins, people
were not certain which; they belonged to each other and were not easily
distinguished.
Then came a choir of monks and sang the eight o’clock service.
On the stroke of nine came the nine muses; one was busy with astronomy;
one with historical archives; the others belonged to the theatre.
On the stroke of ten, Moses again came forward with the tables of the
law, on which stood all God’s commandments, and they were ten.
The clock struck again; then little boys and girls danced and hopped
about. They played a game, and sang, “Two and two and seven, the clock
has struck eleven.”
When twelve struck the watchman appeared with his fur cap and halberd: he sang the old watch verse:
“Twas at the midnight hour
Our Saviour He was born.”
And while he sang, roses grew and changed into angel-beads borne on rainbow-coloured wings.
It was charming to hear, and lovely to see. The whole was a matchless work of art—the most incredible thing, every one said.
The designer of it was a young man, good-hearted and happy as a child, a
true friend, and good to his old parents; he deserved the Princess and
the half of the kingdom.
The day of decision arrived; the whole of the town had a holiday, and
the Princess sat on the throne, which had got new horse-hair, but which
was not any more comfortable. The judges round about looked very
knowingly at he one who was to win, and he stood glad and confident; his
good fortune was certain, he had made the most incredible thing.
“No, I shall do that now!” shouted just then a long bony fellow. “I am
the man for the most incredible thing,” and he swung a great axe at the
work of art.
“Crash, crash!” and there lay the whole of it. Wheels and springs flew in all directions; everything was destroyed.
“That I could do!” said the man. “My work has overcome his and overcome all of you. I have done the most incredible thing.”
“To destroy such a work of art!” said the judges. “Yes, certainly that is the most incredible thing.”
All the people said the same, and so he was to have the Princess and
the half of the kingdom, for a promise is a promise, even if it is of
the most incredible kind.
It was announced with trumpet-blast from the ramparts and from all the
towers that the marriage should be celebrated. The Princess was not
quite pleased about it, but she looked charming and was gorgeously
dressed. The church shone with candles; it shows best late in the
evening. The noble maidens of the town sang and led the bride forward;
the knights sang and accompanied the bridegroom. He strutted as if he
could never be broken.
Now the singing stopped and one could have heard a pin fall, but in the
midst of the silence the great church door flew open with a crash and
clatter, and boom! boom! the whole of the clock-work came marching up
the passage and planted itself between the bride and bridegroom. Dead
men cannot walk again, we know that very well, but a work of art can
walk again; the body was knocked to pieces, but not the spirit; the
spirit of the work walked, and that in deadly earnest.
The work of art stood there precisely as if it were whole and
untouched. The hours struck, the one after the other, up to twelve, and
the figures swarmed forward; first Moses: flames of fire seemed to flash
from his forehead; he threw the heavy stone tables down on the feet of
the bridegroom and pinned them to the church floor.
“I cannot lift them again,” said Moses, “you have knocked my arm off! Stand as you stand now!”
Then came Adam and Eve, the wise men from the East, and the four
Seasons; each of these told him unpleasant truths, and said “For shame!”
But he was not in the least ashamed.
All the figures which each stroke of the clock had to exhibit came out
of it, and all increased to a terrible size; there seemed scarcely to he
room for the real people; and when at the stroke of twelve the watchman
appeared with his fur cap and halberd, there was a wonderful commotion;
the watchman walked straight up to the bridegroom and struck him on the
forehead with his halberd.
“Lie there,” he said, “like for like! we are avenged and our master as well! we vanish!”
And so the whole work disappeared; but the candles round about in the
church became great bouquets, and the gilded stars on the ceiling of the
church sent out long, clear beams, and the organ played of itself. All
the people said it was the most incredible thing they had ever
experienced.
“Will you then summon the right one!” said the Princess, “the one who made the work of art; let him be my lord and husband.”
And he stood in the church with the whole of the people for his
retinue. All were glad and all blessed him; there was not one who was
jealous—and that was the most incredible thing of all.
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