The Clockmaker's Apprentice

1. NarratorEvery Saturday, Min helped in the small clock shop at the end of Mill Street. The clockmaker, Mr Aziz, was a quiet man with a large magnifying glass and very steady hands.
2. NarratorThis week, a huge job had arrived. The old town clock had stopped, and the spring festival was only five days away.
3. Mr AzizMin, I need your help. The mechanism is full of dust, and your fingers are smaller than mine.
4. MinI am nervous. What if I break something?
5. Mr AzizThen we will fix that too. Only one rule: never hurry.
6. NarratorMin put on her apron and sat at the workbench. Inside the clock, there were rows of tiny brass wheels, each one linked to the next.
7. NarratorOn Monday, she cleaned. She used a soft brush to remove the dust, one tooth at a time. By evening her neck hurt, and she had only cleaned three wheels.
8. MinThis is too slow. We will never finish.
9. Mr AzizLook at the wheels you have cleaned. How do they turn?
10. NarratorMin tried one. It turned smoothly, with a soft click.
11. MinIt is perfect.
12. Mr AzizSlow work is good work. Tomorrow, you do four.
13. NarratorThat night, Min lay awake and thought about the wheels. She imagined them all turning together, each one passing its motion to the next.
14. MinIf one wheel is wrong, the whole clock is wrong.
15. Mr AzizNow you understand clocks, and many other things. Small parts matter.
16. NarratorOn Tuesday, she found a tiny crack in a gear. On Wednesday, she asked the clockmaker how to repair it. He showed her how to drill the smallest hole and fit a new pin.
17. Mr AzizBreathe out slowly, and do not push. Let the tool do the work.
18. NarratorOn Thursday, Min's hands shook, and she dropped a screw. It rolled under the workbench and disappeared.
19. MinI have ruined everything!
20. Mr AzizNobody has ruined anything. We will look for it together.
21. NarratorThey knelt on the floor with a torch. After five minutes, the screw glittered between two floorboards. Min picked it up.
22. MinFound it. I am sorry.
23. Mr AzizEvery apprentice drops a screw. I dropped twelve in my first week.
24. NarratorOn Friday, the final wheel clicked into place. Mr Aziz wound the spring. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, softly, the pendulum began to swing. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
25. MinIt works!
26. Mr AzizYou made it work.
27. NarratorOn the day of the festival, the whole town gathered in the square. As the clock struck twelve, the bells rang out across the roofs. People cheered and clapped.
28. NarratorThe mayor shook Mr Aziz's hand, and then, to Min's surprise, hers. The clock had been silent for two years, and now the whole square could hear it.
29. NarratorMin stood at the back, holding the clockmaker's sleeve.
30. MinThank you for teaching me to slow down.
31. Mr AzizAnd thank you for being patient with an old man.
32. NarratorMin looked up at the clock. It was strange to think that a hundred tiny wheels, cleaned by her own hand, were keeping time for the town.

Voices: when recorded voices are on this page they play; if not, your own device reads the words aloud in a British voice if it has one. Slow mode plays at 85 per cent speed.