Chapter 9
The Bell-Deep"DING-DONG! ding-dong!" It sounds up from the "bell-deep"
in the Odense-Au. Every child in the old town of Odense, on the
island of Funen, knows the Au, which washes the gardens round about
the town, and flows on under the wooden bridges from the dam to the
water-mill. In the Au grow the yellow water-lilies and brown
feathery reeds; the dark velvety flag grows there, high and thick;
old and decayed willows, slanting and tottering, hang far out over
the stream beside the monk's meadow and by the bleaching ground;
but opposite there are gardens upon gardens, each different from
the rest, some with pretty flowers and bowers like little dolls'
pleasure grounds, often displaying cabbage and other kitchen
plants; and here and there the gardens cannot be seen at
