“Oh, there is no justice left on earth!” was his bitter thought. “There is no justice left!”
In the meantime, the Cat, who had begun by washing herself and polishing her claws, calmly put out her paw to the little girl.
She really was a very pretty cat; and, if our friend Tylô’s jealousy had not been such an ugly feeling, we might almost have overlooked it for once! How could you fail to be attracted by Tylette’s eyes, which were like topaz set in emeralds? How could you resist the pleasure of stroking the wonderful black velvet back? How could you not love her grace, her gentleness and the dignity of her poses?
Smiling gently and speaking in well-chosen language, she said to Mytyl:
“Good morning, miss! … How well you look this morning! …”
And the Children patted her like anything.
Tylô kept watching the Cat from the other end of the room:
“Now that she’s standing on her hind-legs like a man,” he muttered, “she looks just like the Devil, with her pointed ears, her long tail and her dress as black as ink!” And he could not help growling between his teeth. “She’s also like the village chimney-sweep,” he went on, “whom I loathe and detest and whom I shall never take for a real man, whatever my little gods may say. … It’s lucky,” he added, with a sigh, “that I know more about a good many things than they do!”
But suddenly, no longer able to master himself, he flew at the Cat and shouted, with a loud laugh that was more like a roar:
“I’m going to frighten Tylette! Bow, wow, wow!”
But the Cat, who was dignified even when still an animal, now thought herself called to the loftiest destinies. She considered that the time had come to raise a tall barrier between herself and the Dog, who had never been more than an ill-bred person in her eyes; and, stepping back in disdain, she just said:
“Sir, I don’t know you.”
Tylô gave a bound under the insult, whereupon the Cat bristled up, twisting her whiskers under her little pink nose (for she was very proud of those two pale blotches which gave a special touch to her dark beauty); and then, arching her back and sticking up her tail, she hissed out, “Fft! Fft!” and stood stock-still on the chest of drawers, like a dragon on the lid of a Chinese vase.
Tyltyl and Mytyl screamed with laughter; but the quarrel would certainly have had a bad ending if, at that moment, a great thing had not happened. At eleven o’clock in the evening, in the middle of that winter’s night, a great light, the light of the noonday sun, glowing and dazzling, burst into the cottage.
“Hullo, there’s daylight!” said the little boy, who no longer knew what to make of things. “What will Daddy say?”
But, before the Fairy had time to set him right, Tyltyl understood; and, full of wonderment, he knelt before the latest vision that bewitched his eyes.
At the window, in the center of a great halo of sunshine, there rose slowly, like a tall golden sheaf, a maiden of surpassing loveliness! Gleaming veils covered her figure without hiding its beauty; her bare arms, stretched in the attitude of giving, seemed transparent; and her great clear eyes wrapped all upon whom they fell in a fond embrace.
“It’s the Queen!” said Tyltyl.
“It’s a Fairy Princess!” cried Mytyl, kneeling beside her brother.
“No, my Children,” said the Fairy. “It is Light!”
Smiling, Light stepped towards the two little ones. She, the Light of Heaven, the strength and beauty of the Earth, was proud of the humble mission entrusted to her; she, never before held captive, living in space and bestowing her bounty upon all alike, consented to be confined, for a brief spell, within a human shape, so as to lead the Children out into the world and teach them to know that other Light, the Light of the Mind, which we never see, but which helps us to see all things that are.
“It is Light!” exclaimed the Things and the Animals; and, as they all loved her, they began to dance around her with cries of pleasure.
Tyltyl and Mytyl capered with joy. Never had they pictured so amusing and so pretty a party; and they shouted louder than all the rest.
Then what was bound to happen came. Suddenly, three knocks were heard against the wall, loud enough to throw the house down! It was Daddy Tyl, who had been waked up by the din and who was now threatening to come and put a stop to it.
“Turn the diamond!” cried the Fairy to Tyltyl.
Our hero hastened to obey, but he had not the knack of it yet; besides, his hand shook at the thought that his father was coming. In fact, he was so awkward that he nearly broke the works.
“Not so quick, not so quick!” said the Fairy. “Oh dear, you’ve turned it too briskly: they will not have time to resume their places and we shall have a lot of bother!”
There was a general stampede. The walls of the cottage lost their splendour. All ran hither and thither, to return to their proper shape: Fire could not find his chimney; Water ran about looking for her tap; Sugar stood moaning in front of his torn wrapper; and Bread, the biggest of the loaves, was unable to squeeze into his pan, in which the other loaves had jumped higgledy-piggledy, taking up all the room.
