The erroneous opinion that an admixture of silver with the bell-metal,
consisting of copper and tin, greatly improves the sound of the bell, is
very common.
The old church at Krempe, in Holstein, possessed formerly a bell of
extraordinary sonorousness, which, people say, contained a great deal of
silver. When this bell was being cast, the people brought silver coins
and trinkets to be thrown into the fusing metal, in order to ensure a
very fine tone. The avaricious founder had a mind to retain these
valuable offerings for himself, so he put them aside. But, during his
temporary absence, the apprentice took all the silver and threw it into
the melting mass. When, on the master's return, his apprentice told him
that he had applied the silver to the purpose for which it was presented
by the donors, the master waxed angry, and slew the lad. Now, when the
bell was cast, and hung in the tower of the church, its sound proved
indeed most sonorous, but also very mournful; and whenever it was rung
it distinctly sounded like "Schad' um den Jungen! Schad' um den Jungen!"
("Pity for the lad! Pity for the lad!")
The church-bell at Keitum, on the Isle of Silt, in the North Sea, off
the coast of Denmark, distinctly says "Ing Dung!" which are the names of
two pious spinsters at whose expense the old bell-tower of the church
was erected long ago. There exists an old prophecy in the place that,
after the bell shall have fallen down and killed the finest youth of the
island, the tower will likewise fall, and will kill the most beautiful
girl of Silt. A fine youth was actually killed by the fall of the bell
in the year 1739; and since that time the young girls of Silt are
generally very timid in approaching the tower, for each one thinks that
she may be the destined victim.
The good people of Gellingen, in the district of Angeln, on the borders
of Denmark, once ordered two bells to be cast for them in the town of
L¸beck. These bells were brought by water to Schleim¸nde; but as
ill-luck would have it, one of them fell into the sea and was lost. Now,
whenever the remaining bell is being rung, it distinctly proclaims, of
which everyone may convince himself, "Min Mag ligger i ‰ Minn!" ("My
companion lies in the Schleim¸nde!")[30]
The church at Dambeck, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, is so very old that the
oldest inhabitants of the place affirm that its outer walls, which only
are now remaining, were built before the deluge. The tower with the
bells is sunk in the Lake M¸ritz; and in olden time people have often
seen the bells rising to the surface of the water on St. John's Day. One
afternoon some children, who had carried the dinner to their parents
labouring in an adjacent field, stopped by the lake to wash the napkins.
These little urchins saw the bells which had risen above the water. One
of the children, a little girl, spread her napkin over one of the bells
for the purpose of drying it; the consequence was that the bell could
not descend again. But though all the rich people of the town of Rˆbel
came to secure the bell for themselves, they were unable to remove it,
notwithstanding that they brought sixteen strong horses to draw it from
the place. They were still unsuccessfully urging the horses, when a poor
man happened to pass that way from the fields with a pair of oxen. The
man, seeing what the rich people were about, at once told them to put
their horses aside; he then yoked his pair of oxen to the bell, and
said: "Nu met God foer Arme un Rieke, all to gelieke!" ("Now with the
help of God, alike for poor and rich.") Having pronounced these words,
he drove the bell without the least difficulty to Rˆbel, where it was
soon hung in the tower of the new church. Whenever a really poor man
dies in Rˆbel, this bell is tolled for him free of charge, and it
distinctly says "Dambeck! Dambeck!"[31]
A hundred other instances could be noticed of church-bells being said to
pronounce some sentence referring to a remarkable incident which
occurred in very remote time. The people, in reciting these sentences,
generally imitate the sound of the bell, which of course, greatly
heightens the effect of the story. Switzerland is especially rich in
such old and cherished traditions.
Every true-born Briton is familiar with the prophetic words chimed by
the bells of Bow Church to Whittington on his return to London, which
signified to him that he was destined to fill one of the highest posts
of honour to which an Englishman can aspire. Some people scout the
tradition, bluntly saying, "I don't believe a word of it!" Others
reply, "Only just prove that it is a myth, and I shall not believe it
any longer, of that I am quite certain."