, but his pride and his devotion to
Tyltyl obliged him to smother his fears:

"I shall stay," he said to his master, "I'm not afraid! I shall stay
with my little god!"

In the meantime, all the others had fled. Bread was crumbling to bits
behind a pillar; Sugar was melting in a corner with Mytyl in his arms;
Night and the Cat, both shaking with fury, kept to the far end of the
hall.

[Illustration: A wonderful garden lay before him, a dream-garden
filled with flowers that shone like stars]

Then Tyltyl gave Tylo a last kiss, pressed him to his heart and, with
never a tremble, put the key in the lock. Yells of terror came from
all the corners of the hall, where the runaways had taken shelter,
while the two leaves of the great door opened by magic in front of our
little friend, who was struck dumb with admiration and delight. What
an exquisite surprise! A wonderful garden lay before him, a
dream-garden filled with flowers that shone like stars, waterfalls
that came rushing from the sky and trees which the moon had clothed in
silver. And then there was something whirling like a blue cloud among
the clusters of roses. Tyltyl rubbed his eyes; he could not believe
his senses. He waited, looked again and then dashed into the garden,
shouting like mad:

"Come quickly!... Come quickly!... They are here!... We have them at
last!... Millions of blue birds!... Thousands of millions!... Come,
Mytyl!... Come, Tylo!... Come, all!... Help me!... You can catch them
by handfuls!..."

Reassured at last, his friends came running up and all darted in among
the birds, seeing who could catch the most:

"I've caught seven already!" cried Mytyl. "I can't hold them!"

"Nor can I!" said Tyltyl. "I have too many of them!... They're
escaping from my arms!... Tylo has some too!... Let us go out, let us
go!... Light is waiting for us!... How pleased she will be!... This
way, this way!..."

And they all danced and scampered away in their glee, singing songs of
triumph as they went.

Night and the Cat, who had not shared in the general rejoicing, crept
back anxiously to the great door; and Night whimpered:

"Haven't they got him?..."

"No," said the Cat, who saw the real Blue Bird perched high up on a
moonbeam.... "They could not reach him, he kept too high...."

Our friends in all haste ran up the numberless stairs between them and
the daylight. Each of them hugged the birds which he had captured,
never dreaming that every step which