The Blue Bird for Children Page 7

  CHAPTER IV

  THE PALACE OF NIGHT

  Some time after, the Children and their friends met at the first dawnto go to the Palace of Night, where they hoped to find the Blue Bird.Several of the party failed to answer to their names when the roll wascalled. Milk, for whom any sort of excitement was bad, was keeping herroom. Water sent an excuse: she was accustomed always to travel in abed of moss, was already half-dead with fatigue and was afraid offalling ill. As for Light, she had been on bad terms with Night sincethe world began; and Fire, as a relation, shared her dislike. Lightkissed the Children and told Tylo the way, for it was his business tolead the expedition; and the little band set out upon its road.

  You can imagine dear Tylo trotting ahead, on his hind legs, like alittle man, with his nose in the air, his tongue dangling down hischin, his front paws folded across his chest. He fidgets, sniffsabout, runs up and down, covering twice the ground without minding howtired it makes him. He is so full of his own importance that hedisdains the temptations on his path: he neglects the rubbish heaps,pays no attention to anything he sees and cuts all his old friends.

  Poor Tylo! He was so delighted to become a man; and yet he was nohappier than before! Of course, life was the same to him, because hisnature had remained unchanged. What was the use of his being a man, ifhe continued to feel and think like a dog? In fact, his troubles wereincreased a hundred-fold by the sense of responsibility that nowweighed upon him.

  "Ah!" he said, with a sigh, for he was joining blindly in his littlegods' search, without for a moment reflecting that the end of thejourney would mean the end of his life. "Ah," he said, "if I got holdof that rascal of a Blue Bird, trust me, I wouldn't touch him evenwith the tip of my tongue, not if he were as plump and sweet as aquail!"

  Bread followed solemnly, carrying the cage; the two Children camenext; and Sugar brought up the rear.

  But where was the Cat? To discover the reason of her absence, we mustgo a little way back and read her thoughts. At the time when Tylettecalled a meeting of the Animals and Things in the Fairy's hall, shewas contemplating a great plot which would aim at prolonging thejourney; but she had reckoned without the stupidity of her hearers:

  "The idiots," she thought, "have very nearly spoiled the whole thingby foolishly throwing themselves at the Fairy's feet, as though theywere guilty of a crime. It is better to rely upon one's self alone. Inmy cat-life, all our training is founded on suspicion; I can see thatit is just the same in the life of men. Those who confide in othersare only betrayed; it is better to keep silent and to be treacherousone's self."

  The road to the Palace of Night was rather long andrather dangerous]

  As you see, my dear little readers, the Cat was in the same positionas the Dog: she had not changed her soul and was simply continuing herformer existence; but, of course, she was very wicked, whereas ourdear Tylo was, if anything, too good. Tylette, therefore, resolved toact on her own account and went, before daybreak, to call on Night,who was an old friend of hers.

  The road to the Palace of Night was rather long and rather dangerous.It had precipices on either side of it; you had to climb up and climbdown and then climb up again among high rocks that always seemedwaiting to crush the passers-by. At last, you came to the edge of adark circle; and there you had to go down thousands of steps to reachthe black-marble underground palace in which Night lived.

  The Cat, who had often been there before, raced along the road, lightas a feather. Her cloak, borne on the wind, streamed like a bannerbehind her; the plume in her hat fluttered gracefully; and her littlegrey kid boots hardly touched the ground. She soon reached herdestination and, in a few bounds, came to the great hall where Nightwas.

  It was really a wonderful sight. Night, stately and grand as a Queen,reclined upon her throne; she slept; and not a glimmer, not a startwinkled around her. But we know that the night has no secrets forcats and that their eyes have the power of piercing the darkness. SoTylette saw Night as though it were broad daylight.

  Before waking her, she cast a loving glance at that motherly andfamiliar face. It was white and silvery as the moon; and its unbendingfeatures inspired both fear and admiration. Night's figure, which washalf visible through her long black veils, was as beautiful as that ofa Greek statue. She had long arms and a pair of enormous wings, nowfurled in sleep, came from her shoulders to her feet and gave her alook of majesty beyond compare. Still, in spite of her affection forher best of friends, Tylette did not waste too much time in gazing ather: it was a critical moment; and time was short. Tired and jaded andovercome with anguish, she sank upon the steps of the throne andmewed, plaintively:

  "It is I, Mother Night!... I am worn out!"

  Night sat up, all quivering. Her immense wings beataround her; and she questioned Tylette in a trembling voice]

  Night is of an anxious nature and easily alarmed. Her beauty, built upof peace and repose, possesses the secret of Silence, which life isconstantly disturbing: a star shooting through the sky, a leaf fallingto the ground, the hoot of an owl, a mere nothing is enough to tearthe black velvet pall which she spreads over the earth each evening.The Cat, therefore, had not finished speaking, when Night sat up, allquivering. Her immense wings beat around her; and she questionedTylette in a trembling voice. As soon as she had learned the dangerthat threatened her, she began to lament her fate. What! A man's soncoming to her palace! And, perhaps, with the help of the magicdiamond, discovering her secrets! What should she do? What wouldbecome of her? How could she defend herself? And, forgetting that shewas sinning against Silence, her own particular god, Night began toutter piercing screams. It was true that falling into such a commotionwas hardly likely to help her find a cure for her troubles. Luckilyfor her, Tylette, who was accustomed to the annoyances and worries ofhuman life, was better armed. She had worked out her plan when goingahead of the children; and she was hoping to persuade Night to adoptit. She explained this plan to her in a few words:

  "I see only one thing for it, Mother Night: as they are children, wemust give them such a fright that they will not dare to insist onopening the great door at the back of the hall, behind which the Birdsof the Moon live and generally the Blue Bird too. The secrets of theother caverns will be sure to scare them. The hope of our safety liesin the terror which you will make them feel."

  There was clearly no other course to take. But Night had not time toreply, for she heard a sound. Then her beautiful features contracted;her wings spread out angrily; and everything in her attitude toldTylette that Night approved of her plan.

  "Here they are!" cried the Cat.

  The little band came marching down the steps of Night's gloomystaircase. Tylo pranced bravely in front, whereas Tyltyl looked aroundhim with an anxious glance. He certainly found nothing to comfort him.It was all very magnificent, but very terrifying. Picture a huge andwonderful black marble hall, of a stern and tomb-like splendour. Thereis no ceiling visible; and the ebony pillars that surround theamphitheatre shoot up to the sky. It is only when you lift your eyesup there that you catch the faint light falling from the stars.Everywhere, the thickest darkness reigns. Two restless flames--nomore--flicker on either side of Night's throne, before a monumentaldoor of brass. Bronze doors show through the pillars to the right andleft.

  The Cat rushed up to the Children:

  "This way, little master, this way!... I have told Night; and she isdelighted to see you."

  Tylette's soft voice and smile made Tyltyl feel himself again; and hewalked up to the throne with a bold and confident step, saying:

  "Good-day, Mrs. Night!"

  Night was offended by the word, "Good-day," which reminded her of hereternal enemy Light, and answered drily:

  "Good-day?... I am not used to that!... You might say, Good-night, or,at least, Good-evening!"

  Our hero was not prepared to quarrel. He felt very small in thepresence of that stately lady. He quickly begged her pardon, as nicelyas he could; and very gently asked her leave to look for the Blue Birdin her
palace.

  "I have never seen him, he is not here!" exclaimed Night, flapping hergreat wings to frighten the boy.

  But, when he insisted and gave no sign of fear, she herself began todread the diamond, which, by lighting up her darkness, wouldcompletely destroy her power; and she thought it better to pretend toyield to an impulse of generosity and at once to point to the big keythat lay on the steps of the throne.

  Without a moment's hesitation, Tyltyl seized hold of it and ran to thefirst door of the hall.

  Everybody shook with fright. Bread's teeth chattered in his head;Sugar, who was standing some way off, moaned with mortal anguish;Mytyl howled:

  "Where is Sugar?... I want to go home!"

  Meanwhile, Tyltyl, pale and resolute, was trying to open the door,while Night's grave voice, rising above the din, proclaimed the firstdanger.

  "It's the Ghosts!"

  "Oh, dear!" thought Tyltyl. "I have never seen a ghost: it must beawful!"

  The faithful Tylo, by his side, was panting with all his might, fordogs hate anything uncanny.

  At last, the key grated in the lock. Silence reigned as dense andheavy as the darkness. No one dared draw a breath. Then the dooropened; and, in a moment, the gloom was filled with white figuresrunning in every direction. Some lengthened out right up to the sky;others twined themselves round the pillars; others wriggled ever sofast along the ground. They were something like men, but it wasimpossible to distinguish their features; the eye could not catchthem. The moment you looked at them, they turned into a white mist.Tyltyl did his best to chase them; for Mrs. Night kept to the plancontrived by the Cat and pretended to be frightened. She had been theGhosts' friend for hundreds and hundreds of years and had only to saya word to drive them in again; but she was careful to do nothing ofthe sort and, flapping her wings like mad, she called upon all hergods and screamed:

  "Drive them away! Drive them away! Help! Help!"

  But the poor Ghosts, who hardly ever come out now that Man no longerbelieves in them, were much too happy at taking a breath of air; and,had it not been that they were afraid of Tylo, who tried to bite theirlegs, they would never have been put back indoors.

  "Oof!" gasped the Dog, when the door was shut at last. "I have strongteeth, goodness knows; but chaps like those I never saw before! Whenyou bite them, you'd think their legs were made of cotton!"

  By this time, Tyltyl was making for the second door and asking:

  "What's behind this one?"

  Night made a gesture as though to put him off. Did the obstinatelittle fellow really want to see everything?

  "Must I be careful when I open it?" asked Tyltyl.

  "No," said Night, "it is not worth while. It's the Sicknesses. Theyare very quiet, the poor little things! Man, for some time, has beenwaging such war upon them!... Open and see for yourself...."

  Tyltyl threw the door wide open and stood speechless withastonishment: there was nothing to be seen....

  He was just about to close the door again, when he was hustled asideby a little body in a dressing-gown and a cotton night-cap, who beganto frisk about the hall, wagging her head and stopping every minute tocough, sneeze and blow her nose ... and to pull on her slippers, whichwere too big for her and kept dropping off her feet. Sugar, Bread andTyltyl were no longer frightened and began to laugh like anything. Butthey had no sooner come near the little person in the cotton night-capthan they themselves began to cough and sneeze.

  "It's the least important of the Sicknesses," said Night. "It'sCold-in-the-Head."

  "Oh, dear, oh, dear!" thought Sugar. "If my nose keeps on running likethis, I'm done for: I shall melt!"

  Wagging her head and stopping every minute to cough,sneeze and blow her nose]

  Poor Sugar! He did not know where to hide himself. He had become verymuch attached to life since the journey began, for he had fallen overhead and ears in love with Water! And yet this love caused him thegreatest worry. Miss Water was a tremendous flirt, expected a lotof attention and was not particular with whom she mixed; but mixingtoo much with Water was an expensive luxury, as poor Sugar found tohis cost; for, at every kiss he gave her, he left a bit of himselfbehind, until he began to tremble for his life.

  When he suddenly found himself attacked by Cold-in-the-Head, he wouldhave had to fly from the palace, but for the timely aid of our dearTylo, who ran after the little minx and drove her back to her cavern,amidst the laughter of Tyltyl and Mytyl, who thought gleefully that,so far, the trial had not been very terrible.

  The boy, therefore, ran to the next door with still greater courage.

  "Take care!" cried Night, in a dreadful voice. "It's the Wars! Theyare more powerful than ever! I daren't think what would happen, if oneof them broke loose! Stand ready, all of you, to push back the door!"

  Night had not finished uttering her warnings, when the plucky littlefellow repented his rashness. He tried in vain to shut the door whichhe had opened: an invincible force was pushing it from the other side,streams of blood flowed through the cracks; flames shot forth; shouts,oaths and groans mingled with the roar of cannon and the rattle ofmusketry. Everybody in the Palace of Night was running about in wildconfusion. Bread and Sugar tried to take to flight, but could not findthe way out; and they now came back to Tyltyl and put their shouldersto the door with despairing force.

  The Cat pretended to be anxious, while secretly rejoicing:

  "This may be the end of it," she said, curling her whiskers. "Theywon't dare to go on after this."

  Dear Tylo made superhuman efforts to help his little master, whileMytyl stood crying in a corner.

  At last, our hero gave a shout of triumph:

  "Hurrah! They're giving way! Victory! Victory! The door is shut!"

  At the same time, he dropped on the steps, utterly exhausted, dabbinghis forehead with his poor little hands which shook with terror.

  "Well?" asked Night, harshly. "Have you had enough? Did you see them?"

  "Yes, yes!" replied the little fellow, sobbing. "They are hideous andawful.... I don't think they have the Blue Bird...."

  "You may be sure they haven't," answered Night, angrily. "If they had,they would eat him at once.... You see there is nothing to bedone...."

  Tyltyl drew himself up proudly:

  "I must see everything," he declared. "Light said so...."

  "It's an easy thing to say," retorted Night, "when one's afraid andstays at home!"

  "Let us go to the next door," said Tyltyl, resolutely. "What's inhere?"

  "This is where I keep the Shades and the Terrors!"

  Tyltyl reflected for a minute:

  "As far as Shades go," he thought, "Mrs. Night is poking fun at me.It's more than an hour since I've seen anything but shade in thishouse of hers; and I shall be very glad to see daylight again. As forthe Terrors, if they are anything like the Ghosts, we shall haveanother good joke."

  Our friend went to the door and opened it, before his companions hadtime to protest. For that matter, they were all sitting on the floor,exhausted with the last fright; and they looked at one another inastonishment, glad to find themselves alive after such a scare.Meanwhile, Tyltyl threw back the door and nothing came out:

  "There's no one there!" he said.

  "Yes, there is! Yes, there is! Look out!" said Night, who was stillshamming fright.

  She was simply furious. She had hoped to make a great impression withher Terrors; and, lo and behold, the wretches, who had so long beensnubbed by Man, were afraid of him! She encouraged them with kindwords and succeeded in coaxing out a few tall figures covered withgrey veils. They began to run all around the hall until, hearing theChildren laugh, they were seized with fear and rushed indoors again.The attempt had failed, as far as Night was concerned, and the dreadhour was about to strike. Already, Tyltyl was moving towards the bigdoor at the end of the hall. A few last words took place between them:

  "Do not open that one!" said Night, in awe-struck tones.

  "Why not?"

  "Because it's
not allowed!"

  "Then it's here that the Blue Bird is hidden!"

  "Go no farther, do not tempt fate, do not open that door!"

  "But why?" again asked Tyltyl, obstinately.

  Thereupon, Night, irritated by his persistency, flew into a rage,hurled the most terrible threats at him, and ended by saying:

  "Not one of those who have opened it, were it but by a hair's breadth,has ever returned alive to the light of day! It means certain death;and all the horrors, all the terrors, all the fears of which men speakon earth are as nothing compared with those which await you if youinsist on touching that door!"

  "Don't do it, master dear!" said Bread, with chattering teeth. "Don'tdo it! Take pity on us! I implore you on my knees!"

  "You are sacrificing the lives of all of us," mewed the Cat.

  "I won't! I sha'n't!" sobbed Mytyl.

  "Pity! Pity!" whined Sugar, wringing his fingers.

  All of them were weeping and crying, all of them crowded round Tyltyl.Dear Tylo alone, who respected his little master's wishes, dared notspeak a word, though he fully believed that his last hour had come.Two big tears rolled down his cheeks; and he licked Tyltyl's hands indespair. It was really a most touching scene; and for a moment, ourhero hesitated. His heart beat wildly, his throat was parched withanguish, he tried to speak and could not get out a sound: besides, hedid not wish to show weakness in the presence of his haplesscompanions!

  "If I have not the strength to fulfil my task," he said to himself,"who will fulfil it? If my friends behold my distress, it is all upwith me: they will not let me go through with my mission and I shallnever find the Blue Bird!"

  At this thought, the boy's heart leaped within his breast and all hisgenerous nature rose in rebellion. It would never do to be, perhaps,within arm's length of happiness and not to try for it, at the risk ofdying in the attempt, to try for it and hand it over at last to allmankind!

  That settled it! Tyltyl resolved to sacrifice himself. Like a truehero, he brandished the heavy golden key and cried:

  "I must open the door!"

  He ran up to the great door, with Tylo panting by his side. The poorDog was half-dead with fright, but his pride and his devotion toTyltyl obliged him to smother his fears:

  "I shall stay," he said to his master, "I'm not afraid! I shall staywith my little god!"

  In the meantime, all the others had fled. Bread was crumbling to bitsbehind a pillar; Sugar was melting in a corner with Mytyl in his arms;Night and the Cat, both shaking with fury, kept to the far end of thehall.

  A wonderful garden lay before him, a dream-gardenfilled with flowers that shone like stars]

  Then Tyltyl gave Tylo a last kiss, pressed him to his heart and, withnever a tremble, put the key in the lock. Yells of terror came fromall the corners of the hall, where the runaways had taken shelter,while the two leaves of the great door opened by magic in front of ourlittle friend, who was struck dumb with admiration and delight. Whatan exquisite surprise! A wonderful garden lay before him, adream-garden filled with flowers that shone like stars, waterfallsthat came rushing from the sky and trees which the moon had clothed insilver. And then there was something whirling like a blue cloud amongthe clusters of roses. Tyltyl rubbed his eyes; he could not believehis senses. He waited, looked again and then dashed into the garden,shouting like mad:

  "Come quickly!... Come quickly!... They are here!... We have them atlast!... Millions of blue birds!... Thousands of millions!... Come,Mytyl!... Come, Tylo!... Come, all!... Help me!... You can catch themby handfuls!..."

  Reassured at last, his friends came running up and all darted in amongthe birds, seeing who could catch the most:

  "I've caught seven already!" cried Mytyl. "I can't hold them!"

  "Nor can I!" said Tyltyl. "I have too many of them!... They'reescaping from my arms!... Tylo has some too!... Let us go out, let usgo!... Light is waiting for us!... How pleased she will be!... Thisway, this way!..."

  And they all danced and scampered away in their glee, singing songs oftriumph as they went.

  Night and the Cat, who had not shared in the general rejoicing, creptback anxiously to the great door; and Night whimpered:

  "Haven't they got him?..."

  "No," said the Cat, who saw the real Blue Bird perched high up on amoonbeam.... "They could not reach him, he kept too high...."

  Our friends in all haste ran up the numberless stairs between them andthe daylight. Each of them hugged the birds which he had captured,never dreaming that every step which brought them nearer to the lightwas fatal to the poor things, so that, by the time they came to thetop of the staircase, they were carrying nothing but dead birds.

  Light was waiting for them anxiously:

  "Well, have you caught him?" she asked.

  "Yes, yes!" said Tyltyl. "Lots of them! There are thousands! Look!"

  As he spoke, he held out the dear birds to her and saw, to his dismay,that they were nothing more than lifeless corpses: their poor littlewings were broken and their heads drooped sadly from their necks! Theboy, in his despair, turned to his companions. Alas, they too werehugging nothing but dead birds!

  Then Tyltyl threw himself sobbing into Light's arms. Once more, allhis hopes were dashed to the ground.

  "Do not cry, my child," said Light. "You did not catch the one that isable to live in broad daylight.... We shall find him yet...."

  "Of course, we shall find him," said Bread and Sugar, with one voice.

  They were great boobies, both of them; but they wanted to console theboy. As for friend Tylo, he was so much put out that he forgot hisdignity for a moment and, looking at the dead birds, exclaimed:

  "Are they good to eat, I wonder?"

  The party set out to walk back and sleep in the Temple of Light. Itwas a melancholy journey; all regretted the peace of home and feltinclined to blame Tyltyl for his want of caution. Sugar edged up toBread and whispered in his ear:

  "Don't you think, Mr. Chairman, that all this excitement is veryuseless?"

  And Bread, who felt flattered at receiving so much attention,answered, pompously:

  "Never you fear, my dear fellow, I shall put all this right. Lifewould be unbearable if we had to listen to all the whimsies of thatlittle madcap!... To-morrow, we shall stay in bed!..."

  They forgot that, but for the boy at whom they were sneering, theywould never have been alive at all; and that, if he had suddenly toldBread that he must go back to his pan to be eaten and Sugar that hewas to be cut into small lumps to sweeten Daddy Tyl's coffee and MummyTyl's syrups, they would have thrown themselves at their benefactor'sfeet and begged for mercy. In fact, they were incapable ofappreciating their good luck until they were brought face to face withbad.

  Poor things! The Fairy Berylune, when making them a present of theirhuman life, ought to have thrown in a little wisdom. They were not somuch to blame. Of course, they were only following Man's example.Given the power of speaking, they jabbered; knowing how to judge, theycondemned; able to feel, they complained. They had hearts whichincreased their sense of fear, without adding to their happiness. Asto their brains, which could easily have arranged all the rest, theymade so little of them that they had already grown quite rusty; and,if you could have opened their heads and looked at the works of theirlife inside, you would have seen the poor brains, which were theirmost precious possession, jumping about at every movement they madeand rattling in their empty skulls like dry peas in a pod.

  Fortunately, Light, thanks to her wonderful insight, knew all abouttheir state of mind. She determined, therefore, to employ the Elementsand Things no more than she was obliged to:

  "They are useful," she thought, "to feed the children and amuse themon the way; but they must have no further share in the trials, becausethey have neither courage nor conviction."

  Meanwhile, the party walked on, the road widened out and becameresplendent; and, at the end, the Temple of Light stood on a crystalheight, shedding its beams around. The tired Children made the Dogcarry them
pick-a-back by turns; and they were almost asleep when theyreached the shining steps.