The Clockmaker of the Black Forest

An illustrated story by Atlas & Ash · Fantasy · Artistic · All ages · English, Turkish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Also in: Türkçe · Deutsch · Español · Português · Français · Bahasa Indonesia

When the old clockmaker falls ill and winter won't end, his apprentice must mend the great clock that turns the forest's seasons.

In a Black Forest village of clockmakers, fifteen-year-old Liesl learns that her master Anselm's cuckoo clocks secretly keep the seasons turning, and that one great clock in the heart of the forest keeps them all. When the master falls ill in deep winter, the clocks begin to stop and the snow freezes in the air. Kuno, the talking wooden cuckoo of the oldest clock, leads her into the frozen forest, where the Silver Stag tests her. At the great clock she finds a cracked gear, and the answer is the crooked little bird she carved herself.

Characters

Liesl (Apprentice clockmaker): A fifteen-year-old apprentice to the village's old clockmaker, clever with her hands but unsure of herself.
Master Anselm (Old clockmaker): The village clockmaker for sixty years, and secretly the keeper of the clocks that turn the seasons.
Kuno (Talking wooden cuckoo): The carved cuckoo of the oldest clock in the workshop, who wakes up when the seasons are in danger.
The Silver Stag (Guardian of the forest): An ancient white stag with antlers like frosted branches, who guards the heart of the forest.

Episode 1: The Season Clocks

Liesl learns the workshop's great secret: the master's clocks keep the forest's seasons turning. When deep winter comes, the master falls ill, the clocks start to stop, and the oldest cuckoo in the workshop suddenly speaks.

Autumn dusk in the clockmaking village. — *The Black Forest, 1847. A village of clockmakers.*

In the workshop, the master teaches Liesl to listen. — **Master Anselm**: Listen before you fix, Liesl.
**Liesl**: It sounds tired. Like it is sighing.

Liesl shows him her first carving, a crooked little bird. — **Liesl**: My first bird. It's crooked.
**Master Anselm**: It is honest. Keep it close.

The master turns the hand of the winter clock, and snow begins. — **Liesl**: It's snowing! Did you do that?

Anselm reveals the secret of the season clocks. — **Master Anselm**: Our clocks keep the seasons turning.
**Master Anselm**: And one great clock keeps them all.

He shows her an old map of the great clock in the forest. — **Master Anselm**: Each spring I wind it. One day, you will.
**Liesl**: Me? I can barely carve a bird.

Deep winter: the master falls ill. — *Then deep winter came, and the master fell ill.*
**Liesl**: Rest, Master. I will keep the workshop.

At night, the clocks stop one by one. — *Tick... tock... tick...*
**Liesl**: Why is it so quiet?

Outside, the falling snow freezes still in the air. — **Liesl**: The snow... it stopped in the air!

The oldest cuckoo clock bursts open and its wooden bird speaks. — *CUCKOO!*
**Kuno**: Finally, someone awake! The great clock is stopping!

Episode 2: Into the Frozen Forest

With the master's brass key and a talking cuckoo on her shoulder, Liesl sets out into the frozen forest, follows the faint ticking of the great clock, and is stopped at dawn by the Silver Stag.

Kuno explains: if the great clock stops, spring never comes. — **Kuno**: If the great clock stops, spring never comes!
**Liesl**: But I'm only an apprentice.

The master gives Liesl the brass winding key. — **Master Anselm**: This key winds the great clock. Trust your ears.
**Liesl**: I will bring spring back. I promise.

Liesl leaves the frozen village at dawn. — *At dawn, Liesl set out for the heart of the forest.*
**Kuno**: Left at the fountain, then into the trees!

They follow carved cuckoo markers into the forest. — **Kuno**: Follow the carved birds. The old masters left them.

The path disappears under deep snow. — **Liesl**: The markers are buried. Which way now?

Liesl closes her eyes and hears a faint ticking. — **Kuno**: Listen before you fix. Remember?
**Liesl**: I hear it... ticking. That way!

Crossing the frozen stream on stepping stones. — **Kuno**: Careful! I can't swim. I'm a clock bird!

A campfire at night; the forest animals gather. — **Liesl**: Look. They're waiting for spring, too.
**Kuno**: Then we mustn't be late.

At dawn, a silver light: the Stag appears. — **Kuno**: The Silver Stag. Guardian of the heart.

The Stag blocks the path and asks his question. — **The Silver Stag**: Only a true clockmaker may pass. Are you one?
**Liesl**: I... I'm learning to be.

Episode 3: The Heart of the Forest

Liesl passes the Stag's listening test and reaches the great clock, frozen inside its ancient fir. She finds a cracked gear, but the frozen wood splits in her hands, until she remembers the crooked little bird in her pocket.

The Stag sets a test: three clocks, only one true. — **The Silver Stag**: Three clocks. Only one keeps true time. Choose.

Kuno whispers a wrong hint; Liesl hushes him. — **Kuno**: Psst! The golden one, surely?
**Liesl**: Shh. Shiny isn't the same as true.

She chooses the plain old clock. — **Liesl**: This one. It ticks like a heartbeat.

The Stag bows and opens the way. — **The Silver Stag**: You listen like your master. Follow me.

They arrive at the heart of the forest. — *The heart of the forest.*
**Liesl**: It's enormous.

Liesl climbs up and gently clears the ice. — **Kuno**: Gently! It's even older than me!

Behind a hatch she finds a cracked gear. — **Liesl**: The spring gear is cracked. A tooth is missing.
**Kuno**: Can you fix it?

She tries to carve a new tooth, but the frozen wood splits. — *Crack!*
**Liesl**: The wood is frozen. It won't hold!

Alone with her doubts, she remembers the master. — **Liesl**: Master, what would you do?
*"Keep it close," the master had said.*

She pulls out her crooked first bird: dry summer wood. — **Kuno**: Your first bird!
**Liesl**: Summer wood. Dry and warm. It might work!

Episode 4: The First Call of Spring

Liesl carves a new tooth from her first bird, winds the great clock with the master's key, and Kuno sings spring back into the forest. She comes home to a thawing village and a master who is well again.

Carving a new tooth by lantern light. — **Liesl**: Small cuts. Slow and true.

The new tooth fits perfectly. — *Click!*
**Kuno**: A perfect fit!

She winds the great clock with the master's key. — **Liesl**: It's so stiff...
**Kuno**: Together! One, two, three!

The pendulum swings and the ice falls away. — *TOCK!*
**Liesl**: It's moving! It's moving!

Kuno flies into the spring door and sings. — *Cuckoo! Cuckoo!*
*And the forest heard the first call of spring.*

Snow melts, flowers bloom, and the Stag bows to her. — **The Silver Stag**: Well mended, clockmaker.
**Liesl**: Clockmaker... me?

The village wakes up as Liesl comes home. — **Kuno**: Listen! The whole village is ticking again!

The master is up and well, waiting at the window. — **Master Anselm**: I heard the cuckoo call. I knew it was you.
**Liesl**: I listened before I fixed.

Anselm gives Liesl his own tools. — **Master Anselm**: These tools are yours now, Master Liesl.
**Liesl**: Not a master yet. But one day.

Every spring after, the seasons turn on time. — *And every year after, spring came right on time.*
**Kuno**: Cuckoo! Right on time!