Latest / Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen / 015 - The Most Incredible Thing

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015 - The Most Incredible Thing · Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

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  Speaker 1: Section number fifteen of Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales in
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  Speaker 1: Short Stories, Volume six. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Zena Blue. Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales in Short Stories,
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  Speaker 1: Volume six, eighteen sixty six to eighteen seventy three by
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  Speaker 1: Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paul. Chapter fifteen.
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  Speaker 1: The one who could do the most incredible thing should
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  Speaker 1: have the king's daughter and half of his kingdom. The
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  Speaker 1: young men and even the old ones strained all their thoughts, sinews,
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  Speaker 1: and muscles. Two ate themselves to death, and one drank
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  Speaker 1: until he died to do the most incredible thing, according
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  Speaker 1: to their own taste. But it was not in this
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  Speaker 1: way it was to be done. Little boys in the
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  Speaker 1: streets practiced spitting on their own backs. They considered that
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  Speaker 1: the most incredible thing. On a certain day, an exhibition
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  Speaker 1: was to be held of what each had to show
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  Speaker 1: as the most incredible. The judges who were chosen were
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  Speaker 1: children from three years old to people up. In the sixties,
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  Speaker 1: there was a whole exhibition of incredible things, but all
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  Speaker 1: soon agreed that the most incredible was a huge clock
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  Speaker 1: in a case marvelously designed inside and out. On a
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  Speaker 1: stroke of every hour, living figures came out, which showed
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  Speaker 1: what hour was striking. There were twelve representations in all,
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  Speaker 1: with moving figures, and with music and conversation. That was
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  Speaker 1: the most incredible thing, the people said. The clock struck one,
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  Speaker 1: and Moses stood on the mountain and wrote down on
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  Speaker 1: the tables of the law the first commandment, there is
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  Speaker 1: only one true God. The clock struck two, and the
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  Speaker 1: garden of Eden appeared, where Adam and Eve met happy,
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  Speaker 1: both of them without having so much as a wardrobe.
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  Speaker 1: They did not need one either. On the stroke of three,
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  Speaker 1: the three kings from the East were shown. One of
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  Speaker 1: them was coal black, but he could not help that
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  Speaker 1: the sun had blackened him. They came with incense and treasures.
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  Speaker 1: On the stroke of four came the four seasons. Spring
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  Speaker 1: with a cuckoo on a budding beech bough, Summer with
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  Speaker 1: a grasshopper on a stalk of ripe corn, Autumn with
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  Speaker 1: an empty stork's nest. The birds were flown Winter with
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  Speaker 1: an old crow which could tell stories in the chimney
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  Speaker 1: corner old memories. When the clock struck five, the five
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  Speaker 1: senses appeared, Sight as a spectacle maker, hearing as a coppersmith,
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  Speaker 1: Smell sold violets, and woodruff taste was cook, and feeling
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  Speaker 1: was an undertaker with crape down to his heels. The
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  Speaker 1: clock struck six, and there sat a gambler who threw
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  Speaker 1: the dice, and the highest side was turned up and
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  Speaker 1: showed six. Then came the seven days of the Week,
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  Speaker 1: or the seven Deadly sins. People were not certain which
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  Speaker 1: they belonged to each other, and were not easily distinguished.
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  Speaker 1: Then came a choir of monks and saying the eight
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  Speaker 1: o'clock service. On the stroke of nine came the nine muses.
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  Speaker 1: One was busy with astronomy, one with historical archives. The
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  Speaker 1: others belonged to the theater. On the stroke of ten,
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  Speaker 1: Moses again came forward with the tables of the Law,
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  Speaker 1: on which stood all God's commandments, and they were ten.
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  Speaker 1: The clock struck again. Then little boys and girls danced
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  Speaker 1: and hopped about. They played a game, and sang two
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  Speaker 1: and two and seven. The clock has struck eleven. When
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  Speaker 1: twelve struck the watchman appeared with his fur cap and hawbird.
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  Speaker 1: He sang the old watch verse twas at the midnight hour,
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  Speaker 1: our Savior he was born. And while he sang, roses
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  Speaker 1: grew and changed into agel beads, born on rainbow colored wings.
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  Speaker 1: It was charming to hear, and lovely to see. The
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  Speaker 1: whole was a matchless work of art, the most incredible thing,
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  Speaker 1: everyone said. The designer of it was a young man,
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  Speaker 1: good hearted and happy as a child, a true friend,
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  Speaker 1: and good to his old parents. He deserved the princess
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  Speaker 1: and the half of the kingdom. The day of decision
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  Speaker 1: and arrived. The whole of the town had a holiday,
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  Speaker 1: and the princess sat on the throne, which had got
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  Speaker 1: new horse hair, but which was not any more comfortable.
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  Speaker 1: The judges roundabout looked very knowingly at the one who
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  Speaker 1: was to win, and he stood glad and confident. His
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  Speaker 1: good fortune was certain. He had made the most incredible thing.
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  Speaker 1: No I shall do that now, shouted just then a
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  Speaker 1: long bony fellow. I am the man for the most
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  Speaker 1: incredible thing. And he swung a great axe at the
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  Speaker 1: work of art. Crash, crash, and there lay the whole
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  Speaker 1: of it, wheels and springs, flew in all directions. Everything
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  Speaker 1: was destroyed that I could do, said the man. My
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  Speaker 1: work has overcome his and overcome all of you. I
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  Speaker 1: have done the most incredible thing. To joy such a
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  Speaker 1: work of art, said the judges. Yes, certainly, that is
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  Speaker 1: the most incredible thing. All the people said the same,
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  Speaker 1: And so he was to have the princess and the
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  Speaker 1: half of the kingdom. For a promise is a promise,
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  Speaker 1: even if it is of the most incredible kind. It
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  Speaker 1: was announced with trumpet blast from the ramparts and from
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  Speaker 1: all the towers that the marriage should be celebrated. The
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  Speaker 1: princess was not quite pleased about it, but she looked
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  Speaker 1: charming and was gorgeously dressed. The church shone with candles.
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  Speaker 1: It shows best. Late in the evening, the noble maidens
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  Speaker 1: of the town sang and led the bride forward. The
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  Speaker 1: knight sang and accompanied the bridegroom. He strutted as if
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  Speaker 1: he could never be broken. Now the singing stopped, and
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  Speaker 1: one could have heard a pinfall. But in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of the silence, the great church door flew open with
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  Speaker 1: a crash and clatter and boom boom. The whole of
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  Speaker 1: the clockwork came marching up the passage, and planted itself
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  Speaker 1: between the bride and bridegroom. Dead men cannot walk again,
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  Speaker 1: we know that very well. But a work of art
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  Speaker 1: can walk again. The body was knocked to pieces, but
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  Speaker 1: not the spirit. The spirit of the work walked, and
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  Speaker 1: that in deadly earnest the work of art stood there
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  Speaker 1: precisely as if it were whole and untouched. The hour struck,
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  Speaker 1: the one after the other up to twelve, and the
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  Speaker 1: figures swarm forward. First Moses flames of fire seemed to
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  Speaker 1: flash from his forehead, and he threw the heavy stone
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  Speaker 1: tables down on the feet of the bridegroom and pinned
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  Speaker 1: them to the church floor. I cannot lift them again,
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  Speaker 1: said Moses, you have knocked my arm off. Stand as
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  Speaker 1: you stand now. Then came Adam and Eve, the wise
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  Speaker 1: men from the East, and the four seasons. Each of
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  Speaker 1: these told him unpleasant truths and said for shame, But
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  Speaker 1: he was not in the least ashamed. All the figures
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  Speaker 1: which each stroke of the clock had to exhibit came
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  Speaker 1: out of it, and all increased to a terrible size.
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  Speaker 1: There seemed scarcely to be room for the real people.
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  Speaker 1: And when at the stroke of twelve, the watchman appeared
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  Speaker 1: with his fur cap and halbird. There was a wonderful commotion.
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  Speaker 1: The watchman walked straight up to the bridegroom and struck
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  Speaker 1: him on the forehead with his halberd. Lie there, he said,
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  Speaker 1: like for like we are avenged in our Master, as
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  Speaker 1: well we vanish. And so the whole work disappeared. But
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  Speaker 1: the candles round about in the church became great bouquets,
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  Speaker 1: and the gilded stars of the ceiling of the church
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  Speaker 1: sent out long clear beams, and the organ played of itself.
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  Speaker 1: All the people said it was the most incredible thing
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  Speaker 1: they had ever experienced. Will you then summon the right one,
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  Speaker 1: said the princess, the one who made the work of art.
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  Speaker 1: Let him be my lord and husband. And he stood
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  Speaker 1: in the church with the whole of the people for
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  Speaker 1: his retinue. All were glad, and all blessed him. There
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  Speaker 1: was not one who was jealous, And that was the
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  Speaker 1: most incredible thing of all. And of Section fifteen recording
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  Speaker 1: by zena Blue