Day by day she longed to escape. But that was impossible: she was watched and guarded. A prisoner! She knew it all too well. The thought of ever marrying the Bronze King grew more and more terrible to her. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” she would say to herself. “What shall I do? Oh, David, what shall I do?” At such times she took up the little forget-me-nots, the poor faded, dried, dead little things, only the shell of the lovely and fragrant blue blossoms that she had gathered in the meadow that ill-fated day when she left the Cobbler’s cottage. She loved them--even these dry little shells--and she always kept them near her, for they seemed to contain the memory of all that was most precious to her. “David!” she cried, “I _won’t_--_I won’t do it_! I WILL NOT MARRY THE BRONZE KING! _NEVER!_” CHAPTER VIII A MESSAGE FROM RUTH The moon was shining clear and bright as David stepped out of the door of the Mansion of Happiness. The clear song of the Bird broke again upon the peaceful evening air. David ran to the foot of the tree whence the notes came. Seeking eagerly among the branches, he caught a shimmer of iridescent blue in the soft moonlight. “My Bird, my Bird!” he cried, “I have found you again at last. Lead on--guide me there--guide me! Do not let me lose sight of you again! My Bird, I need you, I need to follow you, for _her_ dear sake. For I must guide Ruth to the Tree when I have found the way.” The Bird flew before him, and all night he trudged on and on through the deep, dark forest, over rough unmarked trails filled with briers and treacherous pitfalls where his steps were all too apt to falter. “Ruth--where can Ruth be?” he said to himself. “In a palace dark and deep Ruth is lying fast asleep,” sang the Blue Bird. “What do you mean?” cried David. “Guide me there, my Blue Bird; guide me there where she is. I must find her!” “In the Bronze Kings’s dark domain, There the poor girl must remain,” sang the Bird. “Where?” asked David. “Why?” “She is a maiden sorely tried-- The King will have her for his bride,” came the song in reply. [Illustration: FAR AWAY IN THE DISTANCE HE SAW THE PALACE OF THE GREAT BRONZE KING] “What!” David cried in a wild frenzy of fear and anger. “NEVER! Blue Bird, Blue Bird, lead me to her! I must save my Ruth! She must be saved from this terrible and cruel fate!” “I can guide you to the door, But I, alas! can do no more.” “Guide me there, then--that is all I ask!” cried David. So, after following the Blue Bird over another long, long trail, he saw at last, far away in the distance, the Palace of the great Bronze King. Its tower and parapets rose in a huge mass of ugly red above the green foliage and gray rocks of the hillside. In a few minutes he stood without the massive walls. It was very early in the morning, and all within seemed as still and quiet as though it were midnight.