The Very Fine Clock

(BY MURIEL SPARK)

Ø 1) Read the text and point out the sentences corresponding to its content:

a) Ticky and Professor John liked each other very much.

b) Professor John brought Ticky from France where he stood on a beautiful mantelpiece not far from his grandfather that stood on the floor because he was big.

c) Professor John had many friends who came to him every Sunday.

d) They talked about the universe.

e) They all admired Ticky because he was always on time.

f) One day the professors offered Ticky to become Professor.

g) They said they would all sign the documents.

h) Ticky thanked them but declined the offer because the other clocks in the house would not understand him.

Once there was a very fine clock whose name was Ticky. His friend, Professor Horace John Morris, had brought Ticky home with him from Switzerland one day, in the winter time, many years ago. Since then Ticky and the professor had become attached to each other very much and they understood each other’s ways.

Professor Horace John Morris did not like to be called “Professor Horace”, and so Ticky called him “Professor Morris” for a little while, and later on he called his friend, “Professor John”, which pleased the professor very much.

Ticky always stood on a table beside the fireplace, which was his favourite spot. Every night at fourteen minutes past ten, when Professor John had finished writing at his desk, he would come and wind up Ticky and listen to hear if Ticky’s heart was still beating well. Then he would set his wrist watch by Ticky’s time, and, after that, he would set and wind all the other clocks in the house.

“You are a very fine clock, Ticky, ” he said one night, “You are always on time, and you are never too fast or too slow. In fact, you are the most reliable of all my friends.”

“I’m delighted to hear it, Professor John, ” Ticky replied, “and I know that my grandfather, who lives in a castle on top of a mountain in Austria, would be very proud if he could hear it too.”

“To be perfectly honest, Ticky, ” said Professor John, “I do not care for grandfather clocks as a rule. They are so very tall that one can never look into their faces and see what they are thinking. But your grandfather must be a very special clock, as it is always a good thing to have an ancestor who lives in a castle.”

Every Thursday night, instead of going to bed after he had wound up all the clocks in the house, Professor John would stay up till midnight to entertain four of his friends, who came to visit him. Their names were: Professor Sturge Baldwin Parker, Professor Norman Bailee, Professor Raymond Offenbach and Professor Maximilian Rosmini.

All four professors were as clever and famous as Professor John himself. They were all very agreeable to Ticky, for they knew he was Professor John’s best-loved friend and was also very reliable.

Ticky would listen eagerly as the five professors sat talking to each other on Thursday nights. They talked about interesting things like the moon and the stars, and seemed to know so much about them that Ticky could almost believe they had visited all the planets in the sky.

One Thursday evening, Professor Norman Bailee, who came from the north, said to Ticky, “You know, Ticky, you are the cleverest of us all because you can tell the exact time without looking at the clock.” All the other professors agreed that this was so. “Not one of us, ” said Professor John, “can be quite sure of the time without looking at a clock. We can only make a guess. But Ticky always knows.”

He looked admiringly at his friend, Ticky, who stood on the table by his side. (Ticky was a plain, sturdy, wooden clock with a round white face and long black hands.)

Ticky thanked the professors warmly for their compliment and said that his grandfather would have been proud to hear it. He added, “I couldn’t keep the time, of course, without the help and care of my friend, Professor John, who winds me up at exactly fourteen minutes past ten every night.” “But, ” said Professor Sturge Baldwin Parker, who also came from the north, “if it were not for you, Ticky, how could Professor John be sure when it was fourteen minutes past ten? ”

Nobody was able to answer this question. The Professor Maximilian Rosmini, who came from the south, said that he had an important suggestion to make.

“I suggest, ” he said, “that Ticky is as wise as any of us, and so he should be called Professor Ticky. Let us prepare the papers tomorrow. All five of us shall sign our names and make Ticky our new professor.”

The other four professors all said this was a splendid idea, and Professor Raymond Offenbach, who came from the north-north-east, clapped his hands and said, “Bravo, Professor Ticky! ”

Ticky then made a speech. “I’m very happy to hear your suggestion. And I know that my grandfather would be happy too, ” he said. “But I am afraid that if I were to become Professor Ticky, I would lose the friendship of all the other clocks in the house. You see, when Professor John goes off in the morning to sit all day in his professor’s chair at the university, and when the rooms have been cleaned and dusted, then all the house is silent except for the sound of the clocks in the other rooms. It is then that we speak to each other and tell all the stories of our lives.

Upstairs and downstairs, we give out our tick-tock messages, some in a breathless hurry and some in a sky tremble. The kitchen clock, of course, always lets her tongue run away with her. She is very cheerful, and chatters on a high note.

Most of all I like Pepita, the Spanish mother-of-pearl orphan clock in the spare bedroom. I love her especially when her heart misses a beat.

Professors, there is an old saying that my grandfather told me: “Heart speaks to heart”. And this is true of us all in this house.

And so, my dear Professors, I must decline to be Professor Ticky. My fellow clocks would never feel the same about me. They would think I had become too grand for them to talk to, while I would feel very much left out of their company. Please, do not think me ungrateful.”

When the professors had heard this speech of Ticky’s, they all said they admired him more than ever. “Ticky, ” said Professor John, “I have always known that you were a very fine clock, and I think even more highly of you now. It is true that the other clocks in the house are not perfect timekeepers like you. But still, it is a noble thing to refuse the title of professor and remain plain Ticky for their sake.”

Professor Maximilian Rosmini clapped his hands at this, while the other four professors nodded their heads gravely.

Ticky smiled and pointed his hands towards midnight. As the four visitors rose to leave, he mused, “Why, the charming pearly orphan, Pepita, in the spare room, would not know how to say the word “professor.” All she can say is “Ticky, Ticky, Ticky.” All day long she says, “Ticky, Ticky, Ticky, ” to me.”

Ø 2) Is this fairy tale about the clock?