and wailing around the
Fairy:

"What is going to happen?" they asked. "Is there any danger?"

"Well," said the Fairy, "I am bound to tell you the truth: all those
who accompany the two Children will die at the end of the journey."

They began to cry like anything, all except the Dog, who was delighted
at remaining human as long as possible and who had already taken his
stand next to Light, so as to be sure of going in front of his little
master and mistress.

At that moment, there came a knocking even more dreadful than before.

"There's Daddy again!" said Tyltyl. "He's getting up, this time; I can
hear him walking...."

"You see," said the Fairy, "you have no choice now; it is too late;
you must all start with us.... But you, Fire, don't come near anybody;
you, Dog, don't tease the Cat; you, Water, try not to run all over the
place; and you, Sugar, stop crying, unless you want to melt. Bread
shall carry the cage in which to put the Blue Bird; and you shall all
come to my house, where I will dress the Animals and the Things
properly.... Let us go out this way!"

As she spoke, she pointed her wand at the window, which lengthened
magically downwards, like a door. They all went out on tip-toe, after
which the window resumed its usual shape. And so it came about that,
on Christmas Night, in the clear light of the moon, while the bells
rang out lustily, proclaiming the birth of Jesus, Tyltyl and Mytyl
went in search of the Blue Bird that was to bring them happiness.

CHAPTER II

AT THE FAIRY'S

The Fairy Berylune's Palace stood at the top of a very high mountain,
on the way to the moon. It was so near that, on summer nights, when
the sky was clear, you could plainly see the moon's mountains and
valleys, lakes and seas from the terrace of the palace. Here the Fairy
studied the stars and read their secrets, for it was long since the
Earth had had anything to teach her.

"This old planet no longer interests me!" she used to say to her
friends, the giants of the mountain. "The men upon it still live with
their eyes shut! Poor things, I pity them! I go down among them now
and then, but it is out of charity, to try and save the little
children from the fatal misfortune that awaits them in the darkness."

This explains why she had come and knocked at the door of Daddy Tyl's
cottage on Christmas Eve.

And now to return to our travellers. They had hardly reached the
high-road, when the Fairy remembered that