Ht.7m x dia.1.5m Painted wood branches in colours of fire, bronze painted cane. Commissioned by Lez’Arts en Adret for ‘Fantastique’ the theme of Sentier Artistique Hautecour 2013, Savoie, France. The sculpture illustrates the moment when the bell melted into the ground. ‘La légende de la Cloche Perdue’ by Lorna Green Once upon a time a long time ago in the village of Hautecourt a very strange event happened. One dark and foggy night a large bell suddenly appeared in the wood. It seemed to come from the sky and the villagers could not understand how it appeared and where it had come from. For several days they pondered over its existence and soon made plans to install it in the church tower. Arrangements were made to move it but the night before this was due to happen — there came a great storm, wind, rain, thunder and lightning, more violent and frightening than anyone had seen or experienced before. Suddenly, there came from the sky, in the biggest flash of lightening ever seen, a thunderbolt, which set fire to the trees around the bell. In the intense heat of the fire the bell became molten and gradually disappeared into the ground. The villagers watched the great fire with fear and trembling as the bell which arrived from the sky slowly melted into the earth.. No trace of the bell was ever found — no one knew where it came from and no one knows where it went to, but maybe it returned to the depths of the earth where the copper was originally mined? The mystery of the lost bell may never be resolved.