When the bells had been ringing a few moments, a sudden illumination penetrated the forest; the next moment it was dark again, and then the light came back.  It pushed its way forward between the stark trees, like a shimmering mist.  This much it effected:  The darkness merged into a faint daybreak.  Then Abbot Hans saw that the snow had vanished from the ground, as if some one had removed a carpet, and the earth began to take on a green covering.  Then the ferns shot up their fronds, rolled like a bishop’s staff.  The heather that grew on the stony hills and the bog-myrtle rooted in the ground moss dressed themselves quickly in new bloom.  The moss-tufts thickened and raised themselves, and the spring blossoms shot upward their swelling buds, which already had a touch of color.

Abbot Hans’ heart beat fast as he marked the first signs of the forest’s awakening.  “Old man that I am, shall I behold such a miracle?” thought he, and the tears wanted to spring to his eyes.  Again it grew so hazy that he feared the darkness would once more cover the earth; but almost immediately there came a new wave of light.  It brought with it the splash of rivulet and the rush of cataract.  Then the leaves of the trees burst into bloom, as if a swarm of green butterflies came flying and clustered on the branches.  It was not only trees and plants that awoke, but crossbeaks hopped from branch to branch, and the woodpeckers hammered on the limbs until the splinters fairly flew around them.  A flock of starlings from up country lighted in a fir top to rest.  They were paradise starlings.  The tips of each tiny feather shone in brilliant reds, and, as the birds moved, they glittered like so many jewels.

Again, all was dark for an instant, but soon there came a new light wave.  A fresh, warm south wind blew and scattered over the forest meadow all the little seeds that had been brought here from southern lands by birds and ships and winds, and which could not thrive elsewhere because of this country’s cruel cold.  These took root and sprang up the instant they touched the ground.

When the next warm wind came along, the blueberries and lignon ripened.  Cranes and wild geese shrieked in the air, the bullfinches built nests, and the baby squirrels began playing on the branches of the trees.

Everything came so fast now that Abbot Hans could not stop to reflect on how immeasurably great was the miracle that was taking place.  He had time only to use his eyes and ears.  The next light wave that came rushing in brought with it the scent of newly ploughed acres, and far off in the distance the milkmaids were heard coaxing the cows—­and the tinkle of the sheep’s bells.  Pine and spruce trees were so thickly clothed with red cones that they shone like crimson mantles.  The juniper berries changed color every second, and forest flowers covered the ground till it was all red, blue, and yellow.

Abbot Hans bent down to the earth and broke off a wild strawberry blossom, and, as he straightened up, the berry ripened in his hand.