A young husband once had to travel each day to a distant sugar cane field for work. Because his workplace was far from home, he worried about his young wife being alone for long periods.
Before leaving one morning, he gave her four special bells.
The first was made of copper.
The second was made of silver.
The third was made of gold.
The fourth was made of diamond.
He carefully explained what each bell was meant for.
The copper bell was for an ordinary message when she wanted him to return home. The silver bell was for something urgent. The gold bell was for a serious need. The diamond bell was different from all the others. She was never to ring it unless she faced terrible danger.
His wife promised to obey him.
After her husband left for work, however, the house became unbearably quiet.
She walked from one room to another. She sat down, stood up again, and looked outside. Nothing happened. The day seemed unusually long.
Finally, she rang the copper bell.
Her husband heard it and immediately returned.
When he arrived, he asked what had happened.
His wife simply told him that she was bored and wanted his company.
Her husband was disappointed.
He reminded her that he was working and should not be called home without a real reason. He then returned to the fields.
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The following day, the woman became bored again.
She rang the copper bell.
Her husband did not come.
She then rang the silver bell.
Hearing the silver bell, he became worried that something urgent had happened. He hurried home and asked what she needed.
Again, she told him that she was simply lonely.
Her husband became even more concerned about her behaviour. He warned her not to disturb him unnecessarily and returned to his work.
On the third day, she repeated the same behaviour.
First, she rang the copper bell.
Nothing happened.
Then she rang the silver bell.
Still, nobody came.
She finally rang the gold bell.
Her husband heard it and immediately stopped working. He feared that his wife might be sick or facing a serious problem.
He rushed home and asked what was wrong.
Once again, there was no emergency.
She had only been bored.
Her husband was deeply upset. Without saying much, he returned to the fields.
By the fourth day, the woman had exhausted his patience.
She rang the copper bell.
No one came.
She rang the silver bell.
Still nothing.
She rang the gold bell.
Again, there was no response.
Then she remembered the diamond bell.
Despite her husband’s warning, she rang it.
Her husband heard the precious bell and immediately believed that something terrible had happened. He rushed toward the house, expecting to find his wife in danger.
But when he arrived, she laughed and told him that she had only been bored.
Her husband became furious.
He warned her that she had brought trouble upon herself by using the most important bell for such a foolish reason.
He could not know how soon his warning would become reality.
Several months passed.
One day, while the woman was sitting inside her room eating fruit, she suddenly noticed an enormous animal standing at the doorway.
She was terrified.
She rang the copper bell.
The animal entered.
She rang the silver bell.
The animal came closer.
Then she recognised what stood before her.
It was a wolf.
The woman rang the gold bell, hoping her husband would hear it and come to save her.
But the wolf moved toward her with terrifying eyes.
The woman ran across the room.
The wolf followed.
She finally rang the diamond bell again and again, desperately hoping that her husband would hear it.
But this time, the bell could not save her.
Her husband had learned to ignore the calls because she had repeatedly used the bells without reason.
The wolf attacked her and swallowed her.
When evening came, her husband returned from work.
The moment he entered the house, he noticed that something was terribly wrong.
Chairs had been overturned.
The table had been disturbed.
The cords attached to the bells had been broken.
His wife was nowhere to be found.
He searched everywhere.
He called her name repeatedly, but there was no answer.
The man sat down and wept, convinced that he had lost his wife.
That night, while he slept, he heard a strange scratching sound near the roof.
He listened carefully.
Then a voice spoke.
It was a friend he had once helped, a white tailed tropical bird known as the paille en queue.
Years earlier, the man had protected the bird’s eggs from a monkey that wanted to destroy them.
The bird had not forgotten his kindness.
“I know where your wife is,” the bird told him.
The man immediately asked how he could rescue her.
The bird instructed him to follow.
It flew low over the ground so that its white body could be seen in the darkness, and the man followed closely behind.
They eventually reached a huge ditch that marked the boundary between the land of humans and the land of wolves.
The bird told the man to wait there.
Soon, wolves began passing through the ditch.
The man watched each one carefully.
One wolf passed.
Then another.
Then another.
Suddenly, the bird identified a large black wolf with fiery eyes and an enormous belly.
“That is the one,” the bird said.
The man attacked the wolf.
The bird joined him, striking at the wolf’s head while the man fought with all his strength.
The frightened wolf eventually surrendered and returned the man’s wife.
The husband was overjoyed to find her alive.
As they prepared to leave, the wolf revealed something that would become part of the legend.
From that time onward, diamonds would no longer be scattered freely across the surface of the earth.
Anyone who wanted diamonds would have to search deep underground.
That is how the legend explains why diamonds became rare and why people have had to give great quantities of gold and silver to obtain even a small piece.
The story of the four bells therefore became more than a tale about a mysterious treasure.
It became a warning about responsibility.
A warning that a person should never waste the trust placed in them.
And a reminder that when genuine danger finally arrives, those who repeatedly misuse warnings may discover that others no longer believe them.
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Moral Lesson
The story teaches that responsibility matters when someone places their trust in us. The woman treated the bells as toys and repeatedly called her husband without a genuine reason. When real danger finally appeared, her earlier actions had already damaged the trust between them.
The legend also reminds us that help should not be taken for granted. A warning, a promise, or a valuable gift becomes meaningful only when it is respected.
The husband’s rescue also highlights another lesson. Kindness is not always forgotten. Years after he protected the paille en queue’s eggs, the bird remembered his good deed and returned to help him when he needed assistance.
Knowledge Check
1. Why did the husband give his wife four bells?
Answer: He gave her the bells so she could call him home according to the seriousness of her needs while he worked far away.
2. What made the diamond bell different from the others?
Answer: She was instructed to use it only if she faced terrible danger.
3. Why did the husband eventually stop responding to the bells?
Answer: His wife repeatedly rang them when nothing was wrong, so he became accustomed to her false alarms.
4. What happened when the wolf attacked the woman?
Answer: She rang the bells desperately, but her husband did not come because her previous misuse of them had caused him to stop responding.
5. Who helped the husband find his wife?
Answer: A paille en queue bird helped him locate the wolf that had taken his wife.
6. What does the story teach about responsibility?
Answer: It teaches that people must use trust, warnings, and important gifts responsibly because careless actions can have serious consequences.
Source
Adapted from “Histoire des quatre cloches” in Le Folk-lore de l’Île-Maurice by Charles Baissac, published in Paris by Maisonneuve et Cie in 1888.
