iece of machinery which he
had not noticed at first, as he was taken up with his interest in the
little Child. It was a grand and magnificent thing, but I cannot tell
you its name, because the inventions of the Kingdom of the Future will
not be christened by Man until they reach the earth. I can only say
that Tyltyl, when he looked at it, thought that the enormous azure
wings that whizzed so swiftly before his eyes were like the windmills
in his part of the world and that, if he ever found the Blue Bird,
its wings would certainly be no more delicate, dainty or dazzling.
Full of admiration, he asked his new acquaintance what they were.

"Those?" said the Child. "That's for the invention which I shall make
on earth."

And, seeing Tyltyl stare with wide-open eyes, he added:

"When I am on earth, I shall have to invent the thing that gives
happiness.... Would you like to see it?... It is over there, between
those two columns...."

Tyltyl turned round to look; but all the Children at once rushed at
him, shouting:

"No, no, come and see mine!..."

"No, mine is much finer!..."

"Mine is a wonderful invention!..."

"Mine is made of sugar!..."

"His is no good!..."

"I'm bringing a light which nobody knows of!..."

And, so saying, the last Child lit himself up entirely with a most
extraordinary flame.

Amid these joyous exclamations, the Live Children were dragged towards
the blue workshops, where each of the little inventors set his machine
going. It was a great blue whirl of disks and pulleys and straps and
fly-wheels and driving-wheels and cog-wheels and all kinds of wheels,
which sent every sort of machine skimming over the ground or shooting
up to the ceiling. Other Blue Children unfolded maps and plans, or
opened great big books, or uncovered azure statues, or brought
enormous flowers and gigantic fruits that seemed made of sapphires and
turquoises.

Our little friends stood with their mouths wide open and their hands
clasped together: they thought themselves in paradise. Mytyl bent over
to look at a huge flower and laughed into its cup, which covered up
her head like a hood of blue silk. A pretty Child, with dark hair and
thoughtful eyes, held it by the stalk and said, proudly:

"The flowers will all grow like that, when I am on earth!"

"When will that be?" asked Tyltyl.

"In fifty-three years, four months and nine days."

Next came two Blue Children bending under the weight of a pole from
which w