brought them nearer to the light
was fatal to the poor things, so that, by the time they came to the
top of the staircase, they were carrying nothing but dead birds.

Light was waiting for them anxiously:

"Well, have you caught him?" she asked.

"Yes, yes!" said Tyltyl. "Lots of them! There are thousands! Look!"

As he spoke, he held out the dear birds to her and saw, to his dismay,
that they were nothing more than lifeless corpses: their poor little
wings were broken and their heads drooped sadly from their necks! The
boy, in his despair, turned to his companions. Alas, they too were
hugging nothing but dead birds!

Then Tyltyl threw himself sobbing into Light's arms. Once more, all
his hopes were dashed to the ground.

"Do not cry, my child," said Light. "You did not catch the one that is
able to live in broad daylight.... We shall find him yet...."

"Of course, we shall find him," said Bread and Sugar, with one voice.

They were great boobies, both of them; but they wanted to console the
boy. As for friend Tylo, he was so much put out that he forgot his
dignity for a moment and, looking at the dead birds, exclaimed:

"Are they good to eat, I wonder?"

The party set out to walk back and sleep in the Temple of Light. It
was a melancholy journey; all regretted the peace of home and felt
inclined to blame Tyltyl for his want of caution. Sugar edged up to
Bread and whispered in his ear:

"Don't you think, Mr. Chairman, that all this excitement is very
useless?"

And Bread, who felt flattered at receiving so much attention,
answered, pompously:

"Never you fear, my dear fellow, I shall put all this right. Life
would be unbearable if we had to listen to all the whimsies of that
little madcap!... To-morrow, we shall stay in bed!..."

They forgot that, but for the boy at whom they were sneering, they
would never have been alive at all; and that, if he had suddenly told
Bread that he must go back to his pan to be eaten and Sugar that he
was to be cut into small lumps to sweeten Daddy Tyl's coffee and Mummy
Tyl's syrups, they would have thrown themselves at their benefactor's
feet and begged for mercy. In fact, they were incapable of
appreciating their good luck until they were brought face to face with
bad.

Poor things! The Fairy Berylune, when making them a present of their
human life, ought to have thrown in a little wisdom. They were not so
much to blame. Of course, they were only following Man's examp