Ananda could only gasp with amazement, and the crone continued, “He is bewitched, that is all!” And then she moved off as if she had done with the subject, but Ananda ran after her and, catching her by the sleeve, made her stop.
“Tell me! Tell me!” she cried. “Can I not break the spell? Is there no way in which I can keep him in his right form?”
“Let me go!” snapped the old woman. “Yes, of course there is a way! Go home at once, before he can reach there, and you will find his gold cage and perch and bird feathers in a corner of the vaulted room. Take these and burn them; then when he comes back, he will keep his man form forever.” [[41]]
Scarcely waiting to murmur her thanks, Ananda started for home, running all the way and arriving at the red door of the cave quite out of breath and exhausted. She soon found the gold cage and perch and the white bird feathers in a corner of the vaulted room, as the old woman had said, and these she quickly took outside and burned, until nothing remained but a little pile of ashes. Then she sat down happily beside the red door to await the return of the White Bird Prince.
Before long she caught sight of him riding towards her, and she jumped up and ran to meet him. But he, when he saw her, stopped short and looked down upon her very sorrowfully.
“Ananda,” said he, “you have broken your word; you have come home before me. Alas, nothing but ill can come of it!” They moved on slowly until they came to the little pile of ashes which was all that was left of the golden cage and perch, and the white feathers. The White Bird Prince [[42]]got down from his horse and stood looking at it for a long time in silence. Then he turned to Ananda and said, “You have burnt my bird form, my perch and my cage, have you not?”
“Yes,” replied Ananda, beginning to cry, “but I did it that you might keep your man form forever, my dear husband.”
“In burning my feathers,” he continued, “you have burnt my soul, and now I shall be taken from you, and we can never see each other again.”
“No! no! don’t say that!” cried Ananda wildly. “If through my fault you have lost your soul, surely I can win it back for you! I cannot, cannot lose you now that I have got you in your own true form!”
The White Bird Prince looked upon her kindly, but there was little hope in his face as he spoke.