(MUSIC)Our story is called "The Diamond Lens. " It was written by Fitz-JamesO'Brien. Today we will hear the second and final part of the story.
Here is Maurice Joyce with part two of "The Diamond Lens."(MUSIC)Storyteller: When I was a child, someone gave me a microscope. I spenthours looking through that microscope, exploring Nature's tinysecrets. As I grew up, I became more interested in my microscope thanin people.
When I was twenty years old, my parents sent me to New York City tostudy medicine. I never went to any of my classes. Instead, I spentall my time, and a lot of my money, trying to build the perfectmicroscope. I wanted to make a powerful lens that would let me seeeven the smallest parts of life. But all my experiments failed.
Then one day, I met a young man, who lived in the apartment abovemine. Jules Simon told me about a woman who could speak to the dead.
When I visited Madame Vulpes, she let me speak to the spirit of theman who invented the microscope. The spirit of Anton Leeuwenhoek toldme how to make a perfect lens from a diamond of one hundred fortycarats.
But where could I find a diamond that big?
When I returned home, I went to Simon's apartment. He was surprised tosee me and tried to hide a small object in his pocket. I wanted todiscover what it was, so I brought two bottles of wine to hisapartment. We began to drink. By the time we had finished the firstbottle, Simon was very drunk.
"Simon, I know you have a secret. Why don't you tell me about it?"Something in my voice must have made him feel safe. He made me promiseto keep his secret. Then he took a small box from his pocket. When heopened it, I saw a large diamond shaped like a rose. A pure whitelight seemed to come from deep inside the diamond.
Simon told me he had stolen the diamond from a man in South America.
He said it weighed exactly one hundred forty carats.
Excitement shook my body. I could not believe my luck. On the sameevening that the spirit of Leeuwenhoek tells me the secret of theperfect lens, I find the diamond I need to create it.
I decided to steal Simon's treasure.
I sat across the table from him as he drank another glass of wine. Iknew I could not simply steal the diamond. Simon would call thepolice. There was only one way to get the diamond. I had to killSimon.
Everything I needed to murder Simon was right there in his apartment.
A bottle full of sleeping powder was on a table near his bed. A longthin knife lay on the table. Simon was so busy looking at his diamondthat I was able to put the drug in his glass quite easily. He fellasleep in fifteen minutes.
I put his diamond in my pocket and carried Simon to the bed. I wantedto make the police think Simon had killed himself. I picked up Simon'slong thin knife and stared down at him. I tried to imagine exactly howthe knife would enter Simon's heart if he were holding the knifehimself.
I pushed the knife deep into his heart. I heard a sound come from histhroat, like the bursting of a large bubble. His body moved and hisright hand grabbed the handle of the knife. He must have diedimmediately.
I washed our glasses and took the two wine bottles away with me. Ileft the lights on, closed the door and went back to my apartment.
Simon's death was not discovered until three o'clock the next day. Oneof the neighbors knocked at his door and when there was no answer, shecalled the police. They discovered Simon's body on the bed. The policequestioned everyone. But they did not learn the truth. The policefinally decided Jules Simon had killed himself, and soon everyoneforgot about him. I had committed the perfect crime.
For three months after Simon's death, I worked day and night on mydiamond lens. At last the lens was done. My hands shook as I put adrop of water on a piece of glass. Carefully, I added some oil to thewater to prevent it from drying. I turned on a strong light under theglass and looked through the diamond lens.
For a moment, I saw nothing in that drop of water. And then I saw apure white light. Carefully, I moved the lens of my microscope closerto the drop of water.
Slowly, the white light began to change. It began to form shapes. Icould see clouds and wonderful trees and flowers. These plants werethe most unusual colors: bright reds, greens, purples, as well assilver and gold. The branches of these trees moved slowly in a softwind. Everywhere I looked, I could see fruits and flowers of athousand different colors.
"How strange," I thought, "that this beautiful place has no animallife in it."Then, I saw something moving slowly among the brightly-colored treesand bushes. The branches of a purple and silver bush were gentlypushed aside. And, there, before my eye, stood the most beautifulwoman I had ever seen! She was perfect: pink skin, large blue eyes andlong golden hair that fell over her shoulders to her knees.
She stepped away from the rainbow-colored trees. Like a flowerfloating on water, she drifted through the air. Watching her move waslike listening to the sound of tiny bells ringing in the wind.
She went to the rainbow-colored trees and looked up at one of them.
The tree moved one of its branches that was full of fruit. It loweredthe branch to her, and she took one of the fruits. She turned it inher tiny hands and began to eat.
How I wished I had the power to enter that bright light and float withher through those beautiful forests.
Suddenly, I realized I had fallen in love with this tiny creature! Iloved someone who would never love me back. Someone who is a prisonerin a drop of water. I ran out of the room, threw myself on my bed andcried until I fell asleep.
Day after day, I returned to my microscope to watch her. I never leftmy apartment. I rarely even ate or slept.
One day, as usual, I went to my microscope, ready to watch my love.
She was there, but a terrible change had taken place. Her face hadbecome thin, and she could hardly walk. The wonderful light in hergolden hair and blues eyes was gone. At that moment, I would havegiven my soul to become as small as she and enter her world to helpher.
What was causing her to be so sick? She seemed in great pain. Iwatched her for hours, helpless and alone with my breaking heart. Shegrew weaker and weaker. The forest also was changing. The trees werelosing their wonderful colors.
Suddenly, I realized I had not looked at the drop of water for severaldays. I had looked into it with the microscope, but not at it. As soonas I looked at the glass under the microscope, I understood thehorrible truth. I had forgotten to add more oil to the drop of waterto stop it from drying. The drop of water had disappeared.
I rushed again to look through the lens. The rainbow forests were allgone.
My love lay in a spot of weak light. Her pink body was dried andwrinkled. Her eyes were black as dust. Slowly she disappeared forever.
I fainted and woke many hours later on pieces of my microscope. I hadfallen on it when I fainted. My mind was as broken as the diamondlens. I crawled to my bed and withdrew from the world.
I finally got better, months later. But all my money was gone. Peoplenow say I am crazy. They call me "Linley, the mad scientist."No one believes I spoke to the spirit of Leeuwenhoek. They laugh whenI tell them how I killed Jules Simon and stole his diamond to make theperfect lens. They think I never saw that beautiful world in a drop ofwater.
But I know the truth of the diamond lens. And now, so do you.
(MUSIC)Announcer: You have just heard "The Diamond Lens" by Fitz-JamesO'Brien. It was adapted for Special English by Dona de Sanctis. Yourstoryteller was Maurice Joyce.
Listen again next week for another AMERICAN STORY told in SpecialEnglish on the Voice of America. This is Shirley Griffith.
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