RUNO, Stonecutting Apprentice Bruno was bent over a block of white stone he had just carved for a vault. With his awl, he patiently engraved a spiral—his mark, the one that allowed him to identify his work and get paid at the end of the day. Master Tristan, a grave and silent stonecutter to whom Bruno was an apprentice, looked at his work with an approving nod. Bruno had already been working alongside him for three months on the largest construction site in France. It was the year 1240, and they were working on Reims Cathedral. The rst time Bruno had seen this huge stone vessel, clad in sca olding, he’d been stunned. It was enormous! And all around it, what a mess! Piles of stone blocks, workbenches, lathes, beams, and a whole crew of tailors, stonecutters, carpenters, roofers, glassmakers, lead workers, painters, ironworkers, blacksmiths, and all sorts of laborers carrying, toiling, singing, shouting . . . Bruno had been completely stunned. But he liked this rigorous atmosphere. In reality, Master Tristan was more than a stonecutter. He was a sculptor. For several weeks, he’d been working on an angel for the north portal, on the western facade. Bruno watched with envy as Master Tristan shaped the stone with his square-tipped chisel and small mallet. Bruno had to content himself with re ning stones from the quarries, giving them their rectangular form. But secretly, he dreamed of becoming a sculptor himself. Short Story © SISTER KATERI 30 / N° 1
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