ever seen, but which he knew was the
phoenix. This phoenix looked somewhat like a wild swan, but it had
the bill of a cock, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish and the
stripes of a dragon. Its feathers were of five colours.

When the three friends had chatted merrily for a few minutes, the turtle
told them how Bamboo had helped him to escape from the temple.

"A clever boy," said the dragon, patting Bamboo gently on the back.

"Yes, yes, a clever boy indeed," echoed the phoenix.

"Ah," sighed the turtle, "if only the good god, P'anku, were here,
shouldn't we be happy! But, I fear he will never come to this
meeting-place. No doubt he is off in some distant spot, cutting out
another world. If I could only see him once more, I feel that I should
die in peace."

"Just listen!" laughed the dragon. "As if one of us could die! Why, you
talk like a mere mortal."

All day long the three friends chatted, feasted, and had a good time
looking round at the places where they had lived so happily when P'anku
had been cutting out the world. They were good to Bamboo also and showed
him many wonderful things of which he had never dreamed.

"You are not half so mean-looking and so fierce as they paint you on the
flags," said Bamboo in a friendly voice to the dragon just as they were
about to separate.

The three friends laughed heartily.

"Oh, no, he's a very decent sort of fellow, even if he is covered with
fish-scales," joked the phoenix.

Just before they bade each other good-bye, the phoenix gave Bamboo a
long scarlet tail-feather for a keepsake, and the dragon gave him a
large scale which turned to gold as soon as the boy took it into his
hand.

"Come, come, we must hurry," said the turtle. "I am afraid your father
will think you are lost." So Bamboo, after having spent the happiest day
of his life, mounted the turtle's back, and they rose once more above
the clouds. Back they flew even faster than they had come. Bamboo had so
many things to talk about that he did not once think of going to sleep,
for he had really seen the dragon and the phoenix, and if he never
were to see anything else in his life, he would always be happy.

Suddenly the turtle stopped short in his swift flight, and Bamboo felt
himself slipping. Too late he screamed for help, too late he tried to
save himself. Down, down from that dizzy height he tumbled, turning,
twisting, thinking of the awful death that was surely coming. Swish!
he shot throu