r father till the latter had completed his great clock,
which he fondly believed was soon to bring him fame and fortune.
She also proposed that her lover should offer to become her father's
partner--for he, too, was a clockmaker--so that in the event of the
master's great work proving a failure his business should still be
secure. The young man at once acted upon the suggestion, and the father
gratefully received the proffered assistance.

At last the day came when the clockmaker joyfully announced that his
masterpiece was finished, and he called upon Guta and his young partner
to witness his handiwork. They beheld a wonderful clock, of exquisite
workmanship, and so constructed that the striking of the hour
automatically set in motion several small figures. The young people were
not slow to express their admiration and their confidence that fame was
assured.

When the clock was publicly exhibited the scepticism of the citizens was
changed to respect; praise and flattery flowed from the lips that had
formerly reviled its inventor. Nevertheless the civic authorities, urged
thereto by Guta's discarded lover, refused to countenance any attempt
to procure the wonderful clock for the town. But soon its fame spread
abroad to other cities. Members of the clockmakers' guild of Basel
travelled to see it, and raised their hands in surprise and admiration.
Finally the municipal authorities of Basel made arrangements to purchase
it.

But at this point the citizens of Strassburg stepped in and insisted on
preserving the clock in their own city, and it was therefore purchased
for a round sum and erected in a chapel of the Strassburg Cathedral.
The corporation of Basel, having set their hearts on the wonderful
timepiece, commissioned the clockmaker to make another like it, and
offered substantial remuneration. The old man gladly agreed, but his
arch-enemy, hearing of the arrangement and scenting a fine opportunity
for revenge, contrived to raise an outcry against the proposal. "Where
was the advantage," asked the magistrates, "in possessing a wonderful
clock if every city in Germany was to have one?" So to preserve the
uniqueness of their treasure they haled the old clockmaker before
a tribunal and ordered him to cease practising his art. This he
indignantly refused to do, and the council, still instigated by his
enemy, finally decided that his eyes be put out, so that his skill in
clockmaking should come to a decided end. Not a few