come and rescue her?"

The spider sat quite still for a while, and then it said in a voice as
thin as a hair: "You must go through the emerald door; you must go
through the emerald door. What so fit as the emerald door for the hero
who would do great deeds?"

Teddy did not so much as stay to thank the little gray spinner, he was
in such a hurry to find the princess, but turning he sprang to the
emerald door, flung it open, and stepped outside.

He found himself standing on the glass steps, and as his foot touched
the topmost one the whole flight closed up like an umbrella, and in a
moment Teddy was sliding down the smooth glass pane, faster and faster
and faster until he could hardly catch his breath.

The next thing he knew he was standing in the golden garden, and there
was the Counterpane Fairy beside him looking at him sadly. "You should
have known better than to try the emerald door," she said; "and now
shall we break the story?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried Teddy, and he was still the hero. "Let me try once
more, for it may be I can yet save the princess."

Then the Counterpane Fairy smiled. "Very well," she said, "you shall
try again; but remember what I told you, beware of that that is little
and gray, and take this with you, for it may be of use." Stooping, she
picked up a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to him.

The hero took it wondering, and in his hands it was changed to a sword