The Oncethmus and the Clappers

Some years ago there was a donkey called Alfredo living in Embach. Day and night his oncethmus* was so loud, so harsh and so frequent that not only tourists were complaining about losing sleep, but residents who were used to Alfredo, were also fed up. Finally Alfredo was dragged into a truck and left us for good – though some did claim he returned as a Mortadella and was to be found in the meat counter in the shop.

* oncethmus: the loud and harsh braying of donkeys

Now Embach has three white donkeys with ice-blue eyes. Their oncethmus is audible but not so disturbing and can be heard day and night.

The other noise which can be heard at all hours is the church clock. Chiming the quarters and marking the hours – there are 100 strikes each day by 6am at which point the big bell comes into action and its clapper responds with a further 100 resounding bongs. This is the village alarm clock, it can be heard all over Embach, and no-one seems to mind as it is the traditional time to get up.

This big bell also rings at midday – originally to bring the farmers in for lunch, at 7pm and on Fridays at 3pm when the week’s work is done and most people settle in at home for the weekend. Then, of course it ensures we know when there is a mass, and it also rings for weddings and funerals. It is a part of village life, marking the passing hours in a
time-honoured way.

So what is the link between the oncethmus and the clappers? I am not sure there is one but it does very often seem that the donkey responds to the ringing of the church clock. Day and night he brays a couple of minutes after the clock chimes the quarters, which for some time now has been marking time two minutes ahead of Central European Time – so maybe the donkey has a better timepiece.

It isn’t always the case and occasionally the oncethmus can be heard just before the chimes – given the erratic performance of the church clock, the donkeys could be right. Fortunately the current braying does not seem quite as hard and harsh as Alfredo’s lonely cry and it seems unlikely that we will be getting another familiar-looking Mortadella in the shop in the near future.