FAIRY You will have to start at once.
TYLTYL Are you coming with us?
THE FAIRY I can't, because I put on the soup this morning and it always boils over if I leave it for more than an hour. … (Pointing successively to the ceiling, the chimney and the window) Will you go out this way, or that way, or that way? …
TYLTYL (pointing timidly to the door) I would rather go out that way. …
THE FAIRY (growing suddenly angry again) That's quite impossible; and it's a shocking habit! … (Pointing to the window) We'll go out this way. … Well? … What are you waiting for? … Get dressed at once. … (The CHILDREN do as they are told and dress quickly.) I'll help Mytyl. …
TYLTYL We have no shoes. …
THE FAIRY That doesn't matter. I will give you a little magic hat. Where are your father and mother? …
TYLTYL (pointing to the door on the right) They're asleep in there. …
THE FAIRY And your grandpapa and grandmamma? …
TYLTYL They're dead. …
THE FAIRY And your little brothers and sisters. … Have you any? …
TYLTYL Oh, yes; three little brothers. …
MYTYL And four little sisters. …
THE FAIRY Where are they? …
TYLTYL They are dead, too. …
THE FAIRY Would you like to see them again? …
TYLTYL Oh, yes! … At once! … Show them to us! …
THE FAIRY I haven't got them in my pocket. … But this is very lucky; you will see them when you go through the Land of Memory. … It's on the way to the Blue Bird, just on the left, past the third turning. … What were you doing when I knocked? …
TYLTYL We were playing at eating cakes? …
THE FAIRY Have you any cakes? … Where are they? …
TYLTYL In the house of the rich children. … Come and look, it's so lovely. (He drags the FAIRY to the window.)
THE FAIRY (at the window) But it's the others who are eating them! …
TYLTYL Yes; but we can see them eat. …
THE FAIRY Aren't you cross with them? …
TYLTYL What for? …
THE FAIRY For eating all the cakes. … I think it's very wrong of them not to give you some. …
TYLTYL Not at all; they're rich. … I say, isn't it beautiful over there? …
THE FAIRY It's no more beautiful there than here.
TYLTYL Ugh! … It's darker here and smaller and there are no cakes. …
THE FAIRY It's exactly the same, only you can't see. …
TYLTYL Yes, I can; and I have very good eyes. I can see the time on the church clock and daddy can't …
THE FAIRY (suddenly angry) I tell you that you can't see! … How do you see me? … What do I look like? … (An awkward silence from TYLTYL.) Well, answer me, will you? I want to know if you can see! … Am I pretty or ugly? … (The silence grows more and more uncomfortable.) Won't you answer? … Am I young or old? … Are my cheeks pink or yellow? … Perhaps you'll say I have a hump? …
TYLTYL (in a conciliatory tone) No, no; It's not a big one. …
THE FAIRY Oh, yes, to look at you, any one would think it enormous. … Have I a hook nose and have I lost one of my eyes? …
TYLTYL Oh, no, I don't say that. … Who put it out? …
THE FAIRY (growing more and more irritated). But it's not out! … You wretched, impudent boy! … It's much finer than the other; it's bigger and brighter and blue as the sky. … And my hair, do you see that? … It's fair as the corn in the fields, it's like virgin gold! … And I've such heaps and heaps of it that it weighs my head down. … It escapes on every side. … Do you see it on my hands? (She holds out two lean wisps of grey hair.)
TYLTYL Yes, I see a little. …
THE FAIRY (indignantly) A little! … Sheaves! Armfuls! Clusters! Waves of gold! … I know there are people who say that they don't see any; but you're not one of those wicked, blind people, I should hope? …
TYLTYL Oh, no; I can see all that isn't hidden. …
THE FAIRY But you ought to see the rest with as little doubt! … Human beings are very odd! … Since the death of the fairies, they see nothing at all and they never suspect it. … Luckily, I always carry with me all that is wanted to give new light to dimmed eyes. … What am I taking out of my bag? …
TYLTYL Oh, what a dear little green hat! … What's that shining in the cockade? …
THE FAIRY That's the big diamond that makes people see. …
TYLTYL Really? …
THE FAIRY Yes; when you've got the hat on your head, you turn the diamond a little; from right to left, for instance, like this; do you see? … Then it presses a bump which nobody knows of and which opens your eyes. …
TYLTYL Doesn't it hurt? …
THE FAIRY On the contrary, it's enchanted. … You at once see even the inside of things: the soul of bread, of wine, of pepper, for instance. …
MYTYL Can you see the soul of sugar, too? …
THE FAIRY (suddenly cross) Of course you can! … I hate unnecessary questions. … The soul of sugar is no more interesting than the soul of pepper. … There, I give you all I have to help you in your search for the Blue Bird. I know that the flying carpet or the ring which makes its wearer invisible would be more useful to you. … But I have lost the key of the cupboard in which I locked them. … Oh, I was almost forgetting! … (Pointing to the diamond) When you hold it like this, do you see? … One little turn more and you behold the past. … Another little turn and you behold the future. … It's curious and practical and it's quite noiseless. …
TYLTYL Daddy will take it from me. …
THE FAIRY He won't see it; no one can see it as long as it's on your head. … Will you try it? … (She puts the little green hat on TYLTYL'S head.) Now, turn the diamond. … One turn and then. …
(TYLTYL has no sooner turned the diamond than a sudden and wonderful change comes over everything. The old FAIRY alters then and there into a princess of marvellous beauty; the flints of which the cottage walls are built light up, turn blue as sapphires, become transparent and gleam and sparkle like the most precious stones. The humble furniture takes
