Taking the little bluebird in his hand, he opened a small door and entered the magic balloon. Up and up it went, until it was well above the tops of the trees.
Then it took a course toward the east, where the rising sun was gilding the sky with its golden fingers.
Faster and faster it sailed, overtaking in a short time the Fairy Queen and her three ladies-in-waiting, mounted on their friendly robins.
In the distance could be seen the turrets of the castle, gleaming in the morning sun like bayonets thrust up from the earth in monster guns.
"Now, little bluebird," said the Gnome, opening the little door and thrusting her out upon his hand, as the big Soap Bubble hovered above the castle, "fly down and tell Ned that deliverance is near at hand. So also inform the beautiful Princess, who, I see, is still sitting at her window, but asleep!"
Off flew the bluebird on her happy errand.
"Your Majesty," cried the Gnome, addressing the Fairy Queen, as she drew rein at the doorway of the soap bubble, "I would suggest that you touch with the Magic Ring only the cage wherein is confined our friend Ned, instructing him, while still in the form of a cockatoo, to fly up to the topmost branch of the pine tree. Also for the Princess' brother, while he is still a gamecock, to do likewise. After I have brought the bubble close to the window ledge, so that the beautiful Princess may step easily inside, I will cause it to rise to the treetop, from which advantageous position Ned and the Princess' brother can step within. But what to do with the Pine Tree Giant," said the Gnome, scratching his beard reflectively, "gets me! However, one thing at a time, as my old grandfather used to say when I was a boy, 'one thing at a time!'"
As the bluebird whispered in the ear of the beautiful Princess, the Magic Soap Bubble approached the window ledge.
Rubbing her eyes, but making no outcry, although she was very much startled, she obeyed the bluebird's command to "step softly," and entered the Bubble. It then ascended till it was on a line with the topmost branch, where it swayed in the gentle morning breeze, like a barnyard weather cock, the game rooster on one side and the cockatoo on the other!
The Fairy Queen touched them with the ring as they hopped into the bubble, and they regained immediately their natural shape.