He opened the door and went into the five-sided golden hall, and there were the three doors just as before, and the spider spinning and singing on the fourth side:
“Now the brave hero is wiser indeed;
He may have failed once, but he still may succeed.
Dull are the emeralds; diamonds are bright;
So is his wisdom that shines as the light.”
“The diamond door!” cried Teddy. “Yes, that is the door that I should have tried. How could I have thought the emerald door was it?” and opening the diamond door he stepped through it.
He hardly had time to see that he was standing at the top of the glass steps, before —br-r-r-r! —they had shut up again into a smooth glass hill, and there he was spinning down them so fast that the wind whistled past his ears.
In less time than it takes to tell, he was back again for the third time in the golden garden, with the Counterpane Fairy standing before him, and he was ashamed to raise his eyes.
“So!” said the Counterpane Fairy. “Did you know no better than to open the diamond door?”
“No,” said Teddy, “I knew no better.”
“Then,” said the fairy, “if you can pay no better heed to my warnings than that, the princess must wait for another hero, for you are not the one.”
“Let me try but once more,” cried Teddy, “for this time I shall surely find her.”
“Then you may try once more and for the last time,” said the fairy, “but beware of what is little and gray.” Stooping she picked from the grass beside her a fallen acorn cup and handed it to him. “Take this with you,” she said, “for it may serve you well.”