"The church bell hangs high, and looks far around, and sees the birds around it, and understands their language. The wind roars in upon it through windows and loopholes; and the wind knows everything, for he gets it from the air, which encircles all things, and the church bell understands histongue, and rings it out into the world, 'Ding-dong! ding-dong!'
"But it was too much for me to hear and to know; I was not able any longer to ring it out. I became so tired, so heavy, that the beam broke, and I flew out into the gleaming Au, where the water is deepest, and where the Au-mann lives, solitary and alone; and year by year I tell him what I have heard and what I know. Ding-dong! ding-dong"
Thus it sounds complainingly out of the bell-deep in the Odense-Au. That is what grandmother told us.
But the schoolmaster says that there was not any bell that rung down there, for that it could not do so; and that no Au-mann dwelt yonder, for there was no Au-mann at all! And when all the other church bells are sounding sweetly, he says that it is not really the bells that are sounding, but that it is the air itself which sends forth the notes; and grandmother said to us that the Bell itself said it was the air who told it to him, consequently they are agreed on that point, and thismuch is sure.
"Be cautious, cautious, and take good heed to thyself," they both say.
The air knows everything. It is around us, it is in us, it talks of our thoughts and of our deeds, and it speaks longer of them than does the Bell down in the depths of the Odense-Au where the Au-mann dwells. It rings it out in the vault of heaven, far, far out, forever and ever, till the heaven bells sound.
"Ding-dong! ding-dong!"
钟渊
“丁当!丁当!”这个声音是从奥登塞河里的钟渊那儿飘上来的……这是一条什么河呢?奥登塞城里的每个孩子都知道它：它在许多花圃底下流，它在木桥底下流，从水闸那儿一直流到水推磨坊那儿去。这条河里长着许多黄色的水仙花和棕色的细芦苇，还有像天鹅绒一样软的、又高又大的黑香蒲，还有衰老的、布满裂痕的、摇摇欲坠的柳树——它们垂向“修道士沼泽”和“苍白人草地”的水上。不过对面是一片花圃，每个花圃都不相同。有些花圃开满了美丽的花朵，上面还有整齐清洁的凉亭，像玩偶的房子;有些花圃只是长着白菜。有些花圃简直看不见，因为高大的接骨木树丛展开它们的枝叶，高高地垂在流动的水上——有些地方水深得连我们的桨都达不到底。那座古老的女修道院对面的地方，是最深的地方——人们把它叫做“钟渊”。在这儿住着“河人”。在白天，当太阳照在水上的时候，河人就睡着了。不过在满天繁星、月光皎洁的夜里，他就出现了。他是一个很老的人：曾祖母说，她曾经听自己的祖母说过他的故事。据说他过着一种孤寂的生活;除了教堂里那口古老的大钟以外，没有什么人和他谈话。这口钟曾经挂在那个教堂的塔上，不过这个曾经被叫做圣·亚尔般的教堂的地方，现在既没有塔，也没有任何教堂的影子。
“丁当!丁当!”，当那个塔还存在的时候，钟声就这样响着。有一天傍晚，当太阳正在落下去的时候，这口钟就剧烈地摇晃起来，最后它震断了绳子，向空中飞去，它辉煌的铁身在晚霞中放射出光彩。
“丁当!丁当!现在我要去睡了!”钟唱着，于是它飞到奥登塞河里去，沉到它最深的底下。从那时起，这块地方就叫做“钟渊”。不过钟在这块地方既不休息，也不睡觉。它在“河人”的地方发出嘹亮的声音;有时它的调子透过水，浮到水面上来。许多人说，它的调子预告着又也一个什么人要死了，但是事实并不是这样，不是的，它不过是在跟“河人”唱唱歌和谈谈话罢了。“河人”现在不再孤独了。
钟在谈些什么呢?根据大家的传说，它很老，非常地老，在祖母的祖母没有出生以前它就在那儿。不过，就年龄来说，在“河人”面前，它还只不过是一个孩子。“河人”是一个年老的、安静的、古怪的人物。他穿着一条鳝鱼皮做的裤子，一件鱼鳞缀成的上衣，用黄水仙花作纽扣，头发上插着芦苇，胡子上插着青浮草。这副样儿并不太好看。