When he woke up in the morning, out of his sleep, old Soft Pudding stretched out his hands [[99]]to receive the gift, but it was daylight, and, of course, the fairy was gone. It was the common light of the sun, but he was very happy, even though he had only dreamed. He proceeded at once to turn his dream into reality, by constructing the clock.
Within a week, he had made the works. Then, he set them inside a black walnut case, with ivory figures on the dial. After several attempts, he succeeded with the wooden cuckoo, that would come out, flap its wings, and chirp the number of the hours, and go inside the shut doors, while the clock face also marked the proper point.
Then, he brought his whole family, one morning, near the moment when the minute hand was approaching the proper dot on the disc.
What was their surprise, when, without any one touching the little black house, which was set on the wall, the doors flew open, and out strutted a cuckoo, flapping its wings. It chirped out, ten times, and then bowed, went into its box again, and the little doors shut.
The children all clapped their hands and the mother embraced her husband in joy. By and bye, for ivory, which was very costly, Mr. Soft Pudding used white birch for the clock hands.
Then he set up a factory, and this gave work to many villagers, men and women, boys and girls. He soon made a fortune, and now, no one [[100]]called him Soft Pudding, but every one saluted him with a title of respect.
When he died, he left his wealth to his family. To this day, his cuckoos flap their wings, and salute the hours, in every land. Because the wooden clock and bird were black, the time-telling cuckoo, which was sometimes hitched to a barometer, or set in a toy, to foretell the weather, was called the “rain-crow.” But, with this beginning, made by the cuckoo clock, Switzerland became a land of clocks, watches, and musical boxes. [[101]]