ed
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."

"And how did you come here?" asked Teddy.

Then the Bird-maiden told him how she used to live in a golden castle
that was all her own; how she ate from crystal dishes and bathed every
morning in a little marble bath-tub, and had nothing to do all day but
swing in her golden swing and sing for her own pleasure. But after a
while she grew tired of all this and began to wonder what the outside
world was like, and one the day the sun was so bright and the air so
sweet that she left her home and flew out into the wide, wide world.

That was all very pleasant until she grew tired and sat down on a stone
to rest. Then a great brown robber came and caught her and carried her
down into his den, and there he kept her a prisoner in spite of her
tears and prayers, and there she must wait on him and keep his house in
order; every day he went out and left her along, coming back loaded down
with