In Hearn's 'The Soul of the Great Bell,' the first casting failed because 'the metals had rebelled one against the other.' What did this failure cause next?

Hearn writes, 'A second time the bell was cast, and the result was even worse.' What did this second failure directly cause?

Ko-Ngai 'fainted away with fear for her father's sake' when she saw the emperor's yellow missive. Once her strength returned, what did seeing that letter cause her to do?

The astrologer tells Ko-Ngai the metals will not join 'until the flesh of a maiden be melted in the crucible.' What does this answer cause her to do on the day of the third casting?

Ko-Ngai leaps, and the furnace 'subsided quakingly.' Which event happens immediately after that in Hearn's telling?

Which pairing from 'The Soul of the Great Bell' shows one event causing the next, not merely coming before it?

In Lafcadio Hearn's 'The Soul of the Great Bell,' Ko-Ngai consults the astrologer before the third and last casting is attempted.

Hearn writes that Ko-Ngai 'kept secret all that she had heard, and told no one what she had done.' What does keeping this secret achieve for the reader?

Which detail in 'The Soul of the Great Bell' most clearly foreshadows Ko-Ngai's leap into the furnace?

The story opens with the great bell crying 'KO-NGAI' long before any character is named. What does this opening sound set up?

Hearn says there is not a child in the old city 'who does not know the story of the great bell.' What does saying this, while not yet giving the reason, achieve?

After the leap, the waiting-woman is left 'still holding in her hands a shoe.' What does the story's last line do with this small detail?

'The Soul of the Great Bell' begins with the bell sounding in the tower today, then turns back to events of 'Nearly five hundred years ago.' Which plot structure does this turn create?

Which sentence returns 'The Soul of the Great Bell' from the past to the narrative present?

Before the past events begin, Hearn names his source: the story 'as the same is related in the Pe-Hiao-Tou-Choue.' What does this framing sentence do?

What does opening with the bell's sound and closing with the mothers' words achieve that plain chronology could not?

Suppose the story began with Yong-Lo's order and ended with the finished bell. What would that strict chronology lose?

Hearn never shows Kouan-Yu learning what the astrologer told his daughter. What does leaving this out achieve?

Just after the leap Hearn writes, 'Yet the glow of the metal seemed purer and whiter than before.' What does this line set up?

In 'The Soul of the Great Bell,' why does the third casting succeed where the first two failed?