with you
concerning the cathedral."

"And what is your wager?"

"Why, I'll wager that I bring a stream from Treves to Cologne before you
finish the cathedral, and I'll work single-handed, too."

"Done!" said the delighted architect. "But what's the wager?"

"If I win, your soul passes into my possession; if you win, you may have
anything you choose." And with that he was gone.

Next day the architect procured the services of all the builders that
were to be had on such short notice, and set them to work in real
earnest. Very soon the whole town was in a state of excitement because
of the unusual bustle. The architect took to dreaming of the wealth, or
the fame, or the honour he should ask as his due when the stakes were
won. Employing his imagination thus, he one day climbed to the top of
the highest tower, which by this time was completed, and as he feasted
his eyes on the beautiful landscape spread before him he happened to
turn toward the town of Treves, and lo! a shining stream was threading
its way to Cologne. In a very short time it would reach the latter city.

The Devil had won!

With a laugh of defiance the architect cast himself from the high tower
and was instantly killed. Satan, in the form of a black hound, sprang
upon him, but was too late to find him alive.

But his death stopped for many years the progress of the cathedral;
it long stood at the same stage of completion as when the brook first
flowed from Treves to Cologne.

The Fire-bell of Cologne

In one of the grand towers of Cologne Cathedral hangs a massive bell,
some 25,000 lb. in weight. No mellow call to prayer issues from its
brazen throat, no joyous chimes peal forth on gala-days; only in times
of disaster, of storm and stress and fire, it flings out a warning in
tones so loud and clamorous, so full of dire threatenings, that the
stoutest hearts quail beneath the sound. Because its awful note is only
to be heard in time of terror it is known as the Fire-bell, and a weird
tradition relates the story of its founding and the reason for its
unearthly sound.

Long ago, when bell-founding was looked upon as an art of the highest
importance, and especially so among the Germans, the civic authorities
of Cologne made it known that the cathedral was in need of a new bell.
There was no lack of aspirants for the honour of casting the bell, and
more than one exponent of the art imagined his handiwork swinging in the
grand tower of the cathedra