Prompt: Devise a punishment that fits the crime.

Completely unedited from the time of writing, save for a few spelling errors

Is loving someone so terrible a crime? The man sat on the rickety steeple staircase as he asked himself this question. Everyday he had asked himself this question and everyday he had no better answer than, "No, it’s not."

He was Jack the bell-ringer. Jack the eternal Jack, Jack the punished. Sentenced to ring the bells for all eternity, and to do so in isolation. But there was a time when he was not Jack the bell-ringer, and instead Jacques the clock-maker. And there had been her back then. Her, he thought. He would never forget her. He wasn’t allowed to forget her. For this was his punishment.

Jacques the clock-maker was well known throughout the Kingdom for his refined and delicate skills. He could make the cuckoo bird of a cuckoo clock come to life, crying as though it wanted to escape its never-ending task of calling the hours. He could make the chimes and bells of a grandfather clock tinkle so sweetly it was thought that the very angels themselves told the time. And it was said that Jacques the clock-maker had the blood of the gods flowing in his veins, something rare and special to the people the Kingdom.

Then there was Bella, the young woman who serves as keeper-of-the-hours at the High Palace of the Ruler of the Kingdom. Little Bella, whose task was to sing sweetly for His Majesty at the strike of every hour. Not surprisingly, the Ruler had his eye set on Bella and planned to have her for his very own one day.

It was spring when Bella first came to Jacques’ workshop. She had been sent to gather a rare cog for the grand clock that hung in the Throne Room of the Palace. Jacques greeted her warmly, noting the twinkle in her eye as she scanned the various finished and unfinished pieces in the shop. She struck up a conversation with him, and they spoke of what kind of clock was their favorite.

"My least favorite," Bella remarked, "is the cuckoo clock. For I am like the cuckoo bird, tied down forever to sing at the passing of the hours." Jacques watched her face as she spoke, and he could tell she was very unhappy at the High Palace "I think…" he began, but was cut off as the peal of bells came roaring from the High Palace, marking the time as four o’ clock. Bella’s face soured and she turned to leave, but Jacques was captivated by the little cuckoo bird off a girl. He touched her arm lightly.

"Would you sing for me?" Bella smiled. "I will sing for you, but no one else." Jacques nodded and she began to sing. It was a sad song, one about the lonely cuckoo bird who watched the man she loved as he sipped tea with his wife at the pealing of the four o’ clock bell. "You see, the little cuckoo bird can only call to him, but he doesn’t answer back," Bella explained. She turned to leave and Jacques asked her to come again sometime. She nodded, smiled, and was off.

Jacques knew he had fallen in love. For every day thereafter, Bella visited him, usually alone, and she would sing for him at the passing of the hours. Bella knew His Majesty would not be pleased if he knew of her actions, but she was so happy with Jacques that it didn’t matter much.

Summer came, and with it the Dance of the Summer Solstice. This was a grand ball in which all the citizens of the Kingdom could come and dance away into the hours of the night, which was hardly night at all since the sun shone brightly until ten o’ clock. Jacques went, but he could not find Bella anywhere. He searched until the sun had set and only then did he find her under the hanging roses in the Imperial Garden. She wept into his arms, against his heart, and he kissed her gently and asked her to explain her tears. "What now, little bird?" She sobbed a bit more, until he kissed away her tears and she was calm.

"His Majesty, the ruler of this land, has chosen me to be his royal wife." She showed him the ring upon her finger. "I had no choice in the matter! He told me we would be wed, and then I would be his and his alone! I want to be free, Jacques! Free from this gilded cage and the songs of the passing of the hours!" She wept once more.

"If only I could free you, little bird," he whispered and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

At that very moment, the Ruler waltzed into the garden flanked by his Imperial Guards. He saw Bella and he saw Jacques and he saw the kiss. Revenge set in quickly. He crept up on the two, until he was an arm’s length away.

"Jaquemart. Definition: the figure of a man striking the hours on a clock with a hammer. So you shall be, Jacques the clock-maker." His guards tore the two apart, sending Bella to her chamber and Jacques to the dungeon. The next day his sentence was carried out.

"If only I could have freed you, little bird. Instead I must ring the bells for all eternity, and you must listen to them every hour, knowing of my love for you." He was no longer Jacques. He was Jack. And Bella was Bell, the captive cuckoo of the Royal Emperor.

Everyday she heard them, and everyday she scorned them, knowing the whispers they carried with every lamenting peal. The ringing of the bells.

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