“Good Sir Captain, you shall have the bell you seek, the fairest and noblest bell in all the world. To-day shall the metal be prepared and melted in the furnace of the mountains, and to-morrow at high noon shall the metal be poured into the mould of the bell.”
And now it was the high noon of the following day, and the King and his people, together with Altair and his sailors, stood beside the fiery pit in which the metal of the bell boiled in foam of green and red and eddying copper-gold. Taking a golden cup filled with earth, the King cast it into the pit, saying:—
“O bell, by this token I charge thee to remember the earth!
“The earth and her sweet sounds, the songs of birds, the rustle of leaves, the murmur of brooks, the cry of the night wind, the majesty of thunder: of these speak to the sons of men!”
And thus having spoken, the old King took a golden cup of water of the sea, and cast it also into the molten pit, saying:—
“O bell, by this token I charge thee to remember the sea!
“The sea and her voices, the roaring of the mighty waves, the thin whisperings of foam, the talk of ripples on the shore of sheltered isles, the tumult of the gale: of these speak to the sons of men!”
And they poured the fiery metal into the earthy mould and left it to grow cool. Seven days and seven nights sped by, and presently came skilful men to cut the bell from the mould, and sculptors to carve upon it flowers and trees and leaves and birds and waves and cockle shells.
And Altair thanked the old King with all his heart and, stowing the bell in the hold of his ship, sailed away eastward and southward through the sea.
Now it came to pass that, as the returning voyage drew to an end, the young captain found his ship to be almost empty of victuals and drink; so he hastened to the nearest port to see what he could buy. Now it chanced that there lay in the same port another ship which was also returning with a bell, a fine bell to be sure, but not one worthy to be named with the bell of brave Altair. The name of the captain of this other ship, you must know, was Kraken, and he was filled with curiosity to see if the bell of Altair was a better than his own.