Page:St. Nicholas - Volume 41, Part 1.djvu/64

50 holiday dress. The girls and women had on their finest caps, and skirts, and bodices.

When Gerther and his grandfather came into the crowd, a peasant whispered, “Poor Hans Gerber! See his clock, without a speck of paint.”

While they talked, the sound of wheels and horses’ hoofs told that the ducal carriage was coming, and the peasants made an opening through which the royal party might pass. They bowed low as the duchess and the Princess Anna stepped out and went into the inn. Behind them walked the grand duke, looking very handsome in his military uniform with its gold epaulets.

Eager eyes were upon the great folk as they looked over the exhibit, and the crowd was so silent that there was the quiet of a deserted place about the inn. No one spoke, but all watched intently the expression of the nobleman’s face as he moved about the tables. Now he seemed to choose the clock with the bird-decked case, and now the blue and silver one made by the inn-keeper. Twice he went back to it, and the people murmured, “It will take the prize.” He did not seem to notice the unpainted one that stood at the end of the table, and, as Gerther watched, he felt that a stone was on his heart. If only he would wait until it struck the hour!

The grand duke turned to speak to the duchess, and hope rose in the boy’s heart, for every minute’s delay gave a chance to hear the cuckoo call before it was too late. It was ten minutes to three. Would he wait those ten minutes? But again the boy grew sick at heart, for he turned as if to announce his decision.

A thought came to Gerther, and like a ﬂash he moved to act. Hastening to where the nobleman stood, he said timidly, “Please, Your Highness, may I make my clock strike?”

The grand duke looked at him kindly, but the peasants murmured in amazement.

“He must be crazy,” they exclaimed, “to think of winning a prize with that clock.”

But Gerther did not mind their remarks. In fact, he did not hear them. He thought only of the clock, and of making the cuckoo call.

“Which is yours?” the grand duke asked.

“This,” said the boy, pointing to the clock.

Perhaps the great man felt sorry for a boy whom he thought had no chance of winning the prize, for he answered very gently, “Yes, make it strike.”

Gerther turned the hands to three, and a whirring sound began. Then, from the door under the face a bird popped out, and called, “Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!”

The grand duke and duchess started. The peasants’ eyes grew big with wonder, and the Princess Anna clapped her hands.

“Oh!” she cried in delight. “A singing clock!”

“Yes,” answered the duke, “a singing clock. There are others more gay to look upon, but none so wonderful as this.”

Then, turning to Gerther, he asked: “Did you make it, boy?”’

“Grandfather and I,” came the reply. “I thought of putting the cuckoo in, and he planned and did most of the work.”

“Then to you and your grandfather belongs the prize!” And, turning to the table, he laid the purple winning-ribbon on the cuckoo-clock.

The peasants broke into cheers, and crowded around Hans Gerber and his grandson, for Black Forest folk have kind hearts, and though each had hoped to win the prize himself, he was glad it went to those who most deserved and needed it.

So Gerther’s dream came true. They had a new hut with a wooden floor, and a cow with a star on her forehead stood in the barn.

The story spread. From everywhere came orders for cuckoo-clocks, until the old man and the boy could not fill them, and soon all the villagers were at work under their direction. The rich in the cities paid so well for these timepieces that the peasants gave up all thought of going away, and were glad to stay in the woods and carry on the ancient industry. The wares of Kesselberg were shipped to every European land, and even across the sea to America.

Years passed. Gerther went to Heidelberg to study in the university, and became a great and wise man. But it was not his wisdom that made him most known and loved in the Fatherland, but the clock he helped to make when a boy, the cuckoo-clock which was the means of reviving an industry that was fast dying out, and made the clock-makers of the Black Forest famous even beyond the German lands.