Teddy slipped the key into his pocket, and holding the shovel and the trap he ran down to the gate to open it for her. He stood looking after her as she went on down the street, her staff striking the bricks sharply, tap! tap! tap! Her back was certainly exactly like the Counterpane Fairy’s. As he walked slowly up the path swinging his shovel by the handle, he noticed that there was a rat-hole just back of the rain-butt, and he thought what fun it would be to dig it out, so he put the cage down on the ground and set to work with his shovel. The earth broke away from the rat-hole in great clods, and he found it so easy to dig that very soon he had made quite a big hole. Then he saw that down in this hole there was a flight of stone steps leading into the earth. “Why, isn’t that funny!” said Teddy. “Right in the back yard, too. I wonder where they go!” Tucking the shovel under his arm and taking the trap in his hand, Teddy stepped into the rat-hole and began to go down the stairs. He went on down and down and down, and at last he came to an iron door, and it was locked. Teddy tried it and knocked, but there was no answer. He listened with his ear against it, but he heard nothing, and he was just about to turn and go up the stairs again, when he remembered the key the little old woman had given him. He pulled it out of his pocket, and when he tried it in the keyhole it fitted exactly. He turned it, the door flew open, and Teddy stepped through. Beyond was a cave, just such as he had often wished he could live in, with a rough table and chair, old kegs, and a heap of rubbish in one corner. On each side of the cave was a heavy door studded with iron nails. “I will just see where these doors lead to,” said Teddy to himself, laying his trap and his shovel behind one of the kegs. As he reached the first door and put his hand on it he heard someone singing the other side of it as sweetly and clearly as a bird, and this is what the voice sang: “In field and meadow the grasses grow; The clouds are white and the winds they blow. Out in the world there is much to see, If I were but free! If I were but free! My wings were bright and my wings were strong; I plumed myself and I sang a song: Where is the hero to rescue me, And set me free? And set me free?” The song ended and Teddy opened the door. Within was another room that looked almost like the first, only there was a fireplace in it, and in front of this fireplace a young girl was sitting. As soon as Teddy opened the door she looked over her shoulder, and when she saw him she sprang to her feet with a glad cry and clasped her hands. “Oh!” she cried, “have you come to rescue me?” “Who are you?” asked Teddy, wondering at her. She was very beautiful. Her eyes were as bright and black as a sloe, her hair shone like threads of pure gold, and she wore a long cloak of golden feathers over her shoulders. When Teddy spoke she answered him, “I am Avis, the Bird-maiden.”