The little girl was there, in her long white night-dress, standing in the middle of the kitchen, a little surprised to find herself on her feet after so many months' illness. She smiled and pressed Tyltyl's dove to her heart.
Tyltyl looked first at the child and then at Mytyl:
"Don't you think she's very like Light?" he asked.
"She is much smaller," said Mytyl.
"Yes, indeed!" said Tyltyl. "But she will grow!..."
And the three Children tried to put a little food down the Bird's beak, while the parents began to feel easier in their minds and looked at them and smiled.
Tyltyl was radiant. I will not conceal from you, my dear little readers, that the Dove had hardly changed colour at all and that it was joy and happiness that decked him with a magnificent bright blue plumage in our hero's eyes. No matter! Tyltyl, without knowing it, had discovered Light's great secret, which is that we draw nearer to happiness by trying to give it to others.
But now something happened. Everybody became excited, the Children screamed, the parents threw up their arms and rushed to the open door: the Bird had suddenly escaped! He was flying away as fast as he could.
"My bird! My bird!" sobbed the little girl.
But Tyltyl was the first to run to the staircase and he returned in triumph: