The king and queen of Mollebusch Author:Georg Ebers Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III The Clockmaker's Seven Daughters TUSTUS II., wrapped in a dressing- gown, sat in an easy-chair, resting his head on his hand. Behind him stood ... more »the Chief Councillor, who managed the legal affairs of Mollebusch, holding in his hand a bundle of documents, and beside the fireplace the clockmaker, Sommervogel, who had just set the clock on the shelf. He was a tall, lank man with thin gray hair, a goatee on his chin, and an unusually high forehead, which was as smooth and shining as the mirror over the mantelpiece. The King had honored him by entering into conversation and, in reply to the me- ' He was a tall, lank man, with thin gray hair." f r V ' I 4 . II chanic's modest inquiry why His Majesty, who had so many pleasures, sighed so deeply, answered : " Because there is probably no one in Mollebusch who considers himself superfluous." Sommervogel thought this a very strange remark. He had seven dowerless daughters, half of whom, at least, seemed superfluous, for he was continually in need of money. True, he understood his trade thoroughly, and was an industrious, busy, and well-paid man; but his gains were devoured by the great work which also consumed the lion's share of his time. He had been toiling for years to make a musical clock, which represented a park with twelve trees. On one perched a finch, on another a blackbird, on a third a cuckoo, on the fourth a Bulow bird. Besides these four, there were eightother birds, among them a nightingale. Each was to greet an hour of the day with its own note. The finch already sang, " Am I not a handsome bridegroom ? ", the blackbird caroled its song, the cuckoo gave its call, and the Biilow bird its cry in the most deceptive manner, but he could not succeed with the nightingale. He had manufactured and de...« less