HOME READING REPORT ame: Tne Soul of the Great Bell AUTHOR: Lafeadio Hearn SETTING: ‘The setting of The Soul O! The Great Bell was neerly five hundred years agoin the City of Peeking now Bejing CHARACTERS: Px Ko-Ngai—Daughter of Kousn-Yu end the one who sacrificed her al Kouan-Yu~a worthy mandarin and father of Ko-Ngei Antagoris Celestial August- The son of heaven. PLor: Exposition “The watar clock marke the hour in the Tashunge#, in the Tower ol the Great Bell. now the malets lited lo smite the lips of the metal monster-tie vast lips inscribeo with Buddhist texts trom the sacred Fa-nwa- King, irom the chapters ol the holy Ling-yen-Kingl Hear the great bell responding!-how mighty her voice though tonguelsss! KO-NGAII Al the litte diagonson the high-tited eaves of the ‘gieen roofe chiver to the tips oftheir gidod tai under that deop wave of sound: al the porcelain gargoyles tremble on their carven perches: all the hundred itle bells of he pagodas quiver with desire to speak. KO-NGAFall the green-and-gold tiles 0! the tenole ere vibratina; the wooden goldfish above them are writhing against the sky; the uplited finger of Fo shakes high over the heads of the ‘worshippers through the blue fog of incensel KO-NGAI-What a thunder lone was that! Allthe lacquered goblins on the palace cornices wriggle their fire-coloured tongues! And after each huge shock, how wondrous the multiple echo and the {great golden roan, and, at Bt, the sudden sibilant sobbing in the ears when the immense tone faints away in broken whispers of siver. as though a woman’ should whisper, "Hiai” Evan so the great bell hath sounded every day for well- righ five hundred yeare-Ko. Ngai fre! with etupendoue olang, than with immeasurable moan of gold, then with siver murmuring of "Hal" And there is not actilé in all he many-coloued waysot the old Chinese city wiho does not know the story of the great bel, who cannot tell you why the great bell says Ko- ‘Ngai and Hiail ising Aoton Butwhen the metal had been east, andthe eerthen mould separated from the glowing casting, twas dscovered thal, despite their great labour anc ‘ceaseless cere, the result was void of worth; for the metals had rebelled one against the other-the gold had scomed alliance wity the brass, the siiver would not mingle with the molten iron. Therefore the moulds had to be once more prepa‘ed, and the fires rekindled, ene the metal cemelted, and all the worktediously and toilsomely repeated. The Son of Heaven heard and was angry, but ‘spake nothing Climax: Then the father of Ko-Ngai, wid with his grief, would have leaped in after her, but that stiong man held him tack and kept firm grasp upon him until he hed fainted away. and they could bear him lke one dead to his home. And the ‘sorving-woman af Ko Ngai, dizzy and epeachlaes for pain, etood befora the furnace, sill holding in her hands a shoe, a tiny, dainty shoe, with embroidery of pearls and flowers-ine shce of her beautul mstress that was. For she had ‘sought to grasp Ko-Nagai by the foot as she leaped, but had only been able to clutch the shoe, and the pretty shoe came off in her hand: and she continued to ‘tare att Ike one gone mac. Butin gpite of all these things, the command of the Celestial and August had to be obeyed, and the work of the moulders to be finished, hopeless as the result mght be. Yet the glow of the metal seemed purer and whter than before; and there wes no sign of the beautful body that had been entombed therein. So the ponderous casting wae made: and b! when the metal had bacome coo), i ‘was found that the bell was beautiful to look upon and perectiin form, and wonderful in colour above all other bells. Nor was there any trace found of the body of Ko-Ngal: for inac been totaly absorbed by the precious alloy, and bended wth the well-blended brass and gold, with the intermingling ofthe silver andthe iron. Andwhen thay sounded the bell its tones were found fo be deeper land meliower end mighfer than the tonal any other bell, aching even beyond the cistance of one hundred i ke a pealing of summer thunder; and yet ‘aso like some vast voice uttering a name, a woman's name, the name ol Ko- Ngat ‘Ane sill, between each mighty stroke there ie a long low moaning hea'd: and ever the moaning ends with a sound of sobbing and of complaining, as though @ veepng woman shouki murmur, “Hai And stil, when the people hear that great golden moan they keep silence, but when the sharp, sweet shuddering ‘comes in the air, and the sobbing cf "Hla!" then, indeed, do al the Chinese mothersin all the many-coloured ways af Pe-King whisper to thei litle anes: "Liston! that ie Ko-Ngai orying ‘or hor ehoe! That is Ko-Ngai caling for her shoo Denovemen! ‘When Ko-Nagai sacrifoed herself to make the great bell and save her fothor's life. THEME: The theme of the slory is Life process because itis showedin the story the ‘experiences of Kouan-Yui and Ko-Ngai and what a child can do in order to save higher parent LESSON: Learn to sacrifice and make right decisions.