'Ah! that insolent Princess!' cried the Queen. 'To think that
when we supposed her to be so miserable, she was all the while as
happy as possible with that false King. But I know how we can
avenge ourselves!'

So the spy was ordered to go back and pretend to sleep as soundly
as ever, and indeed she went to bed earlier than usual, and
snored as naturally as possible, and the poor Princess ran to the
window and cried:

'Blue Bird, blue as the sky,
Fly to me now, there's nobody by!'

But no bird came. All night long she called, and waited, and
listened, but still there was no answer, for the cruel Queen had
caused the fir tree to be hung all over with knives, swords,
razors, shears, bill-hooks, and sickles, so that when the Blue
Bird heard the Princess call, and flew towards her, his wings
were cut, and his little black feet clipped off, and all pierced
and stabbed in twenty places, he fell back bleeding into his
hiding place in the tree, and lay there groaning and despairing,
for he thought the Princess must have been persuaded to betray
him, to regain her liberty.

'Ah! Fiordelisa, can you indeed be so lovely and so faithless?'
he sighed, 'then I may as well die at once!' And he turned over
on his side and began to die. But it happened that his friend the
Enchanter had been very much alarmed at seeing the Frog chariot
come back to him without King Charming, and had been round the
world eight times seeking him, but without success. At the very