Reading skills - THE GREAT BELL OF BOSHAM

 THE GREAT BELL OF BOSHAM
 

     Long, long ago when men used to come sailing over the sea from Denmark and Norway to raid the coast of England, a boy at Bosham in Sussex saw a strange ship approaching the shore. Terrified he ran back to the village shouting: "The Danes are coming!"

     At once everyone snatched up what they could and fled to the woods. The women took the babies, the men drove the cows, the monks in the monastery hid as many of the treasures of the church as they could, and fled to join the villagers.

    When the Danes landed and scattered through the village, there was no one to be seen , for the villagers were helpless against so many strong men. The raiders carried away whatever they could find and then rushed into the church.

     Now there was a peal of seven bells in the church of which the monks were very proud. They were only rung on Sundays and feast days: dong-ding, ding-dong, dong-ding, boom! The seventh bell was a very large one with a deep note.

     The Danes jerked the bell ropes so that the bells swung and jangled. Pleased with the sound, the raiders carried the biggest bell away with them and set it down on the deck of their ship. They would hang it outside the Chiefs Hall in Denmark, they thought. Its booming note would ring out grandly over the sea.

     When the Danes were gone, the people came flocking back to their ruined huts. The monks went into the church which had been stripped of anything worth carrying. Then to cheer the villagers, they rang a peal on the bells. Ding-dong, Ding-dong, Ding-dong, ... But what happened to the deepest tone of the seventh bell? They rang the peal again and this time, to their astonishment, there came a boom from the sea. It was a great bell joining from the pirates' ship. Once more it rang its deep booming note and then all was silence. The Danes had stolen so much loot and the great bell was so heavy that the ship with all those who were in it sank to the bottom of the sea.

     The bell has remained on the sea-bed ever since but if you listen very carefully when the six bells are rung, you may hear a faint boom from under the sea. It's the great bell of Bosham.

Taškų skaičius už teisingą atsakymą: 1