The Blue Bird for Children: The Wonderful Adventures of Tyltyl and Mytyl in Search of HappinessMaeterlinck, Maurice
General
The Blue Bird for Children: The Wonderful Adventures of Tyltyl and Mytyl in Search of Happiness
Maeterlinck, Maurice
Children -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories
Tylo, of course, did not share this view. His heart spoke louder than
his greed or his laziness; and his great dark eyes turned in entreaty
on Tyltyl, who would have been only too pleased to take his faithful
companion with him, if Light had not absolutely forbidden it:
"I can't help it," said the boy, giving him a kiss. "It seems that
dogs are not admitted where we are going."
Suddenly, Tylo sprang up with delight: a great idea had struck him. He
had not left his real, doggy life long enough to forget any part of
it, especially his troubles. Which was the greatest of these? Was it
not the chain? What melancholy hours Tylo had spent fastened to an
iron ring! And what humiliation he endured when the woodcutter used to
take him to the village and, with unspeakable silliness, keep him on
the lead in front of everybody, thus depriving him of the pleasure of
greeting his friends and sniffing the smells provided for his benefit
at every street-corner and in every gutter:
"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 absent-minded 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. Tylo 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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