“Well,” he said to himself, “I shall have to submit to that humiliating torture once again, to go with my little god!”
Faithful to his traditions, he had, in spite of his fine clothes, kept his dog-collar, but not his lead. What was to be done? He was once more in despair, when he saw Water lying on a sofa and playing, in an absentminded sort of way, with her long strings of coral. He ran up to her as prettily as he could and, after paying her a heap of compliments, begged her to lend him her biggest necklace. She was in a good temper and not only did what he asked, but was kind enough to fasten the end of the coral string to his collar. Tylô gaily went up to his master, handed him this necklace chain and, kneeling at his feet, said:
“Take me with you like this, my little god! Men never say a word to a poor dog when he is on his chain!”
“Alas, even like this, you cannot come!” said Light, who was much touched by this act of self-sacrifice; and, to cheer him up, she told him that fate would soon provide a trial for the Children in which his assistance would be of great use.
As she spoke these words, she touched the emerald wall, which opened to let her pass through with the Children.
Her chariot was waiting outside the entrance to the temple. It was a lovely shell of jade, inlaid with gold. They all three took their seats; and the two great white birds harnessed to it at once flew off through the clouds. The chariot travelled very fast; and they were not long on the road, much to the regret of the Children, who were enjoying themselves and laughing like anything; but other and even more beautiful surprises awaited them.
The clouds vanished around them; and, suddenly, they found themselves in a dazzling azure palace. Here, all was blue: the light, the flagstones, the columns, the vaults; everything, down to the smallest objects, was of an intense and fairy-like blue. There was no seeing the end of the palace; the eyes were lost in the infinite sapphire vistas.
“How lovely it all is!” said Tyltyl, who could not get over his astonishment. “Goodness me, how lovely! … Where are we?”
“We are in the Kingdom of the Future,” said Light, “in the midst of the children who are not yet born. As the diamond allows us to see clearly in this region which is hidden from men, we shall perhaps find the Blue Bird here. … Look! Look at the children running up!”
From every side came bands of little children dressed from head to foot in blue; they had beautiful dark or golden hair and they were all exquisitely pretty. They shouted gleefully:
“Live Children! … Come and look at the little Live Children!”
“Why do they call us the little Live Children?” asked Tyltyl, of Light.
“It is because they themselves are not alive yet. They are awaiting the hour of their birth, for it is from here that all the children come who are born upon our earth. When the fathers and mothers want children, the great doors which you see over there, at the back, are opened; and the little ones go down. …”
“What a lot there are! What a lot there are!” cried Tyltyl.
“There are many more,” said Light. “No one could count them. But go a little further: you will see other things.”
Tyltyl did as he was told and elbowed his way through; but it was difficult for him to move, because a crowd of Blue Children pressed all around them. At last, by mounting on a step, our little friend was able to look over the throng of inquisitive heads and see what was happening in every part of the hall. It was most extraordinary! Tyltyl had never dreamed of anything like it! He danced with joy; and Mytyl, who was hanging on to him and standing on tiptoe so that she might see too, clapped her little hands and gave loud cries of wonder.
All around were millions of Children in blue, some playing, others walking about, others talking or thinking. Many were asleep; many also were at work; and their instruments, their tools, the machines which they were building, the plants, the flowers and the fruits which they were growing or gathering were of the same bright and heavenly blue as the general appearance of the palace. Among the Children moved tall persons also dressed in blue: they were very beautiful and looked just like angels. They came up to Light and smiled and gently pushed aside the Blue Children, who went back quietly to what they were doing, though still watching our friends with astonished eyes.
One of them, however, remained standing close to Tyltyl. He was quite small. From under his long sky-blue silk dress peeped two little pink and dimpled bare feet. His eyes stared in curiosity at the little Live Boy; and he went up to him as though in spite of himself.
“May I talk to him?” asked Tyltyl, who felt half-glad and half-frightened.
“Certainly,” said Light. “You must make friends. … I will leave you alone; you will be more at ease by yourselves. …”
So saying, she went away and left the two Children face to face, shyly smiling. Suddenly, they began to talk:
“How do you do?” said Tyltyl, putting out his hand to the Child.
But the Child did not understand what that
