could walk. She amused herself by flying to the palace
and singing outside her mother's window, and one day, after Fantosina
had become a princess again, the queen spoke about the wonderful bird.

'I have never listened to such a beautiful song,' she said. 'I hear it
every morning at the same hour. Have you heard it, Fantosina?'

Fantosina felt very much amused. 'Yes,' she answered, 'I heard it this
morning.'

'I heard it too!' cried Abdullah, Fantosina's younger brother. 'But
though I have looked for it I have not seen the bird yet.'

'It is the most beautiful bird in the world,' said Fantosina, trying not
to laugh. 'It has a blue body and bright red wings. I don't believe
there is another bird like it.'

Now Abdullah, being very fond of his sister, and seeing that she admired
the strange bird, made up his mind to catch it for her, but he did not
say anything of his intention, because he wanted to give Fantosina a
pleasant surprise. But the next morning he hid himself in the shrubbery,
and waited until he heard the bird's song; and peeping out he saw a
scarlet wing flash in the sunshine. That afternoon Abdullah prepared a
net, and the next morning again he hid in the same place. As soon as he
heard the song he peeped forth and saw a spot of blue against the green
leaves of an oak tree which grew close to the house, then he waited
until Fantosina thought it was time to come back to her proper shape. In
order to return to the cowslip bank she left the tree and flew along
just above the ground, and she had spread her wings and was enjoying
herself very greatly when she saw Abdullah running after her. And she
saw too that her brother carried a long stick in his hands, and at the
end of the stick was a large thin green net, the same as boys use to
catch butterflies.

Fantosina had never felt so frightened in her life. Suppose Abdullah
caught her before she could reach the cowslip bank! He might put her in
a cage, or he might kill her and have her stuffed! She thought how sad
it would be to have to spend her whole life in a cage, or to be put
under a glass case in the queen's drawing-room!

The worst of it was that she could not tell him who she really was. When
she tried to speak she could only sing, and it made her so nervous to
see Abdullah running just underneath her that she could not fly nearly
so fast as usual. But she did reach the sloping bank at last, and just
as she was going to seize a cowslip, Abdullah he