As you look for the Blue Bird, dear Children, accustom yourselves to
love the grey birds which you find on your way."

She nodded her fair head gravely; and it was quite clear that she knew
where the Blue Bird was. But life is often full of beautiful
mysteries, which we must respect, lest we should destroy them; and, if
Light had told the Children where the Blue Bird was, well, they would
never have found him! I will tell you why at the end of this story.

And now let us leave our little friends to sleep on beautiful white
clouds under Light's watchful care.

CHAPTER IV

THE PALACE OF NIGHT

Some time after, the Children and their friends met at the first dawn
to 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 was
called. Milk, for whom any sort of excitement was bad, was keeping her
room. Water sent an excuse: she was accustomed always to travel in a
bed of moss, was already half-dead with fatigue and was afraid of
falling ill. As for Light, she had been on bad terms with Night since
the world began; and Fire, as a relation, shared her dislike. Light
kissed the Children and told Tylo the way, for it was his business to
lead the expedition; and the little band set out upon its road.

You can imagine dear Tylo trotting ahead, on his hind legs, like a
little man, with his nose in the air, his tongue dangling down his
chin, his front paws folded across his chest. He fidgets, sniffs
about, runs up and down, covering twice the ground without minding how
tired it makes him. He is so full of his own importance that he
disdains 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 no
happier than before! Of course, life was the same to him, because his
nature had remained unchanged. What was the use of his being a man, if
he continued to feel and think like a dog? In fact, his troubles were
increased a hundred-fold by the sense of responsibility that now
weighed upon him.

"Ah!" he said, with a sigh, for he was joining blindly in his little
gods' search, without for a moment reflecting that the end of the
journey would mean the end of his life. "Ah," he said, "if I got hold
of that rascal of a Blue Bird, trust me, I wouldn't touch him even
with the tip of my tongue, not if he were as plump a