STEEN. Oh, tell us, Uncle Bertel.
BERTEL. Aye, listen then!—You see the great tower there?—(Both children nod emphatically) It goes so high into the clouds that no one can see it's top!—No one even knows how high it is for the men who built it have been dead for hundreds of years.
STEEN. But what has that to do with the chimes?
HOLGER. Hush, Steen, let uncle speak!
BERTEL. The chimes are up at the top of the tower—and they are holy bells,—miraculous bells, placed there by sainted hands,—and when they rang 'twas said that angels' voices echoed through them.
STEEN. Why doesn't someone ring them now?
BERTEL. Ah, that is not so easy!—They are said to ring on Christmas Eve when the gifts are laid on the altar for the Christ-child,—but not every offering will ring them, it must be a perfect gift. And for all these years not one thing has been laid upon the altar good enough to make the chimes ring out.
HOLGER. Oh, that's what the priest was talking about to mother, then. He said it mustn't be just a fine gift for show but something full of love for the Christ-child.
STEEN. Oh, I want to hear them!
BERTEL. We shall!—The very air is full of holy mystery! The Spirit of Christ will be there in the church to-night! (To HOLGER) Thy cap, boy!