and explanations, but too soon the sun rose, and they had to part
lest the Blue Bird should be discovered. After promising to come
again to the Princess's window as soon as it was dark, he flew
away, and hid himself in a little hole in the fir-tree, while
Fiordelisa remained devoured by anxiety lest he should be caught
in a trap, or eaten up by an eagle.

But the Blue Bird did not long stay in his hiding-place. He flew
away, and away, until he came to his own palace, and got into it
through a broken window, and there he found the cabinet where his
jewels were kept, and chose out a splendid diamond ring as a
present for the Princess. By the time he got back, Fiordelisa was
sitting waiting for him by the open window, and when he gave her
the ring, she scolded him gently for having run such a risk to
get it for her.

'Promise me that you will wear it always!' said the Blue Bird.
And the Princess promised on condition that he should come and
see her in the day as well as by night. They talked all night
long, and the next morning the Blue Bird flew off to his kingdom,
and crept into his palace through the broken window, and chose
from his treasures two bracelets, each cut out of a single
emerald. When he presented them to the Princess, she shook her
head at him reproachfully, saying--

'Do you think I love you so little that I need all these gifts to
remind me of you?'

And he answered--