I had a dream last night...
I saw the Golden Bird, inside a dark room, with a wooden cage secured around it.
A window was nearby, from which you could see a wonderful landscape illuminated by the moon’s light.
And across from the wooden cage on the other side of the window, there stood a beautiful, ornate golden one.
The room was large, with strange decorations on the walls, where all was quiet and still, until a sharp groan echoed across the room, as a door on the far side opened, and in stepped the Prince.
He crept up to the bird in the cage, mesmerized by the creature’s glistening feathers, when the golden cage next to him suddenly caught his eye.
“What a spectacular piece!” he quietly exclaimed, running his fingers across an etched decoration at the top. “Fine craftsmanship indeed!”
He turned back to the bird, and it was now looking back up at him, looking as tame as a parrot. So the boy carefully opened the cage door, and stuck in his hand to see how the bird would react. But the fowl let the Prince pet it and stroke its beak.
The Prince turned back to the gold cage, “What a shame it would be to carry this bird away in anything but a cage such as that!”
So he reached in and got the bird up on his hand, gently lifting the bird out of the wooden cage’s opening, and into the golden one, setting the animal down on the fancier roost.
“There, that wasn’t difficult at all.” said the Prince, slowly swinging the cage door shut.
But the Golden Bird’s tail feathers had not cleared the opening, and as the fowl attempted to turn around, he found that he was stuck fast to the cage door! And before the Prince knew what was happening, the bird began to shriek, and shriek!
Suddenly, guards flooded into the room, seizing the Prince, and calling for their master, as the bird was placed back in the wooden cage.
Lamps were lit all around the room, revealing dozens of stuffed and mounted animals across the walls and on the floor, as the owner of the mansion came in to inspect the intruder.
“And just what do you think you’re doing, trying to take my precious bird?!” he asked.
“I beg you pardon, kind sir. I can explain everything.”
“Then let’s hear it!” he replied.
“Well he’s not for sale!” snapped the man. “He was given to me by the old lady of the golden castle! It was payment for me to hunt and kill all the foxes of the forest!”
“I deeply apologize, kind sir.” said the Prince, growing more desperate. “My father will more than make up for your troubles from this night, I can assure you.”
“No! You will.” explained the man. “Since you’re so good at sneaking into places, I’ll let you have the Golden Bird, if you can get me the Golden Horse!”
“Very well.” agreed the boy, just happy at the chance to get out of there. “I will make my way there this very moment.”
The man signaled to his guards to let the boy go, and allowed the Prince to leave his mansion unharmed, saying behind him “You best have that horse back here in a week, or that bird will be the next thing I’ll stuff!”
The Prince made his way past the front gate, and to the spot where the Fox said he would meet him at day break.
When morning came, the boy started to wonder where the Fox was, when he heard its voice from behind him:
“What trouble you have gotten into! This all happened because you did not heed my advice. But be of good courage, I will help you get the Golden Horse as well. Hop on my tail once again and I shall take you to it.”
So the Prince seated himself on the animal’s tail, with the Fox saying “Hold on!”
And away they went, flying over stock and stone, until the wind whistled through their hair!
–Charles M Warren
