False
1846;
Score | 20
Gb Enga Student @ University of Lagos
Abeokuta, Nigeria
531
55
14
9
Attended | Lagos State University(BS),
In Education 5 min read
The clock Masters apprentice
<p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>In the quiet town of Glenwood , nestled between rolling green hills and a crystal-clear river, there lived an old clockmaker named Master Elric. His workshop was filled with clocks of all kinds—grandfather clocks, cuckoo clocks, pocket watches, and even a few strange contraptions no one could quite name. Each one ticked in harmony, creating a soothing rhythm that could be heard from the cobbled streets.</p><p><br></p><p>Elric was famous far beyond Glenwood for his skill. People traveled days to buy his timepieces or seek his advice. But he was growing old, and his hands, once steady as stone, now trembled with age.</p><p><br></p><p>One rainy afternoon, a boy named Finn appeared at Elric’s door. He was thin, barefoot, and no older than twelve.</p><p><br></p><p>“I heard you make clocks,” Finn said. “I want to learn.”</p><p><br></p><p>Elric raised an eyebrow. “You want to be a clockmaker?”</p><p><br></p><p>“I want to learn everything,” Finn said. “But clocks seem like a good start.”</p><p><br></p><p>Elric chuckled. “Then you’d better come in.”</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The First Lesson</p><p><br></p><p>From that day on, Finn became Elric’s apprentice. The old man taught him how to measure gears, align escapements, and polish tiny screws until they shined like stars. But Elric didn’t just teach mechanics.</p><p><br></p><p>“Time,” he said one day, “isn’t just gears and springs. It’s how we live. Each second is a choice.”</p><p><br></p><p>Finn didn’t fully understand, but he nodded and kept working.</p><p><br></p><p>The boy was curious and clever, but he was also impatient. He rushed through projects, made mistakes, and grew frustrated when things didn’t work. He once spent three days building a pocket watch only to find it wouldn’t tick.</p><p><br></p><p>“I’m useless,” he muttered, dropping the watch on the table.</p><p><br></p><p>Elric picked it up. “Do you know what this is?”</p><p><br></p><p>“A failure.”</p><p><br></p><p>“No,” Elric said. “It’s a lesson. You only fail when you refuse to learn.”</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The Tower Clock</p><p><br></p><p>One day, the mayor of Glenwood came to the workshop with a grand proposal.</p><p><br></p><p>“The town’s tower clock hasn’t worked in fifty years,” he said. “We want you to restore it.”</p><p><br></p><p>Elric smiled sadly. “My hands can’t handle such a task anymore. But my apprentice might.”</p><p><br></p><p>Finn’s eyes widened. “Me?”</p><p><br></p><p>“You’ll have my guidance,” Elric said. “But it will be your work.”</p><p><br></p><p>The tower clock was massive—gears the size of wagon wheels, rusted levers, and a bell that hadn’t rung since Elric was a boy. Finn was overwhelmed. But he remembered Elric’s words: Each second is a choice.</p><p><br></p><p>So he chose to begin.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The Setbacks</p><p><br></p><p>Finn studied the old blueprints and discovered the clock’s mechanism was a complex marvel of engineering. He spent days just understanding how the parts fit together.</p><p><br></p><p>There were setbacks. A gear cracked. A weight chain snapped. On one occasion, the bell dropped three feet and nearly crushed his foot. Townspeople doubted&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;him. Even Elric, though supportive, looked concerned.</p><p><br></p><p>“I don't I can do this fin said one eveningElric brought out a box of old journals.</p><p><br></p><p>“These are my notes from when I tried to fix the clock. I failed. But maybe my failure can teach you something.”</p><p><br></p><p>Finn stayed up all night reading. He found mistakes Elric had made—and solutions he hadn’t thought of. Slowly, he began to piece the puzzle together.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The Breakthrough</p><p><br></p><p>Months passed. Winter turned to spring. Finn worked through storms and sunshine, never giving up.</p><p><br></p><p>One morning, the townspeople gathered as Finn climbed the tower. He connected the final gear, wound the mechanism, and stepped back. The great hands of the clock trembled... and began to turn.</p><p><br></p><p>Then the bell chimed.</p><p><br></p><p>For the first time in fifty years, the people of Eldenwood heard the song of their clock tower.</p><p><br></p><p>Cheers erupted below. Elric, standing with a cane, looked up and smiled with tears in his eyes.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The Lesson</p><p><br></p><p>Later that day, Finn sat beside Elric, watching the sun cast long shadows from the tower.</p><p><br></p><p>“You were right,” Finn said. “Time really is about choices. I could’ve given up a hundred times.”</p><p><br></p><p>Elric nodded. “But you didn’t. And now you understand something most people take a lifetime to learn.”</p><p><br></p><p>“What’s that?”</p><p><br></p><p>“That real learning doesn’t come from success. It comes from struggle. Curiosity is what starts the journey, but perseverance is what finishes it.”</p><p><br></p><p>Finn looked at his hands, now calloused and stained with oil, and smiled.</p><p><br></p><p>“I think I’m ready to teach someone else someday.”</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Epilogue</p><p><br></p><p>Years later, the clockmaker’s workshop still stood, now run by a man with steady hands and a kind heart. Children peeked through the windows to see the gears and springs, just as Finn once had.</p><p><br></p><p>And high above Eldenwood, the tower clock chimed, not just to tell time—but to remind everyone that learning never ends, failure is not the e</p><p>nd, and each second is a chance to begin again.</p><p><br></p>
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The clock Masters apprentice
By Gb Enga
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