They all soon said good-bye to the rat, who wished them good luck, showed them the road and told them to look in a tree—which he pointed out—where he said they would find something which would help them very much.
The goblins raced to the tree. Yellow-Cap won the race and climbed up quickly, while the others ran all round looking to see what they could find.
They found nothing, and Yellow-Cap was just coming down again when he spied a bird's-nest with three dear little blue eggs in it. He crawled along the branch to look at the eggs, and saw something white under the nest. Yellow-Cap pulled it gently, and out came an envelope. Full of joy he slipped down to his brothers.
They opened the envelope and found a sheet of paper on which was written in gold letters,—
“You who seek the Feather Red
First the Serpent's blood must shed;
In the cave where fairies dwell
The Feather lies, so search it well.”
“Hurrah!” cried Red-Cap. “Let us make haste and find the cave.”
Soon they came to a big dark forest, and after they had gone a little way they saw a fence and a large board on which was written in red letters,—