l 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 s