But at last, she asked him so many times, he told
her that if she took any fright at all while he was in any form but
his own he could never live in the world again in his own form till
all the people of the country had passed away many times. 'I'ld not be
a fit wife for you,' she said, 'if I'ld be easily frightened.'
"'You might not be easily frightened,' he said, 'but you might have
great cause, and if you were only a little frightened you would never
see me like myself again.'
"Then one day, as they were sitting together, the Earl turned away his
head and muttered some words which his wife could not understand, and
that instant he was gone, and instead of him sitting beside her she
saw a little goldfinch flying around the room. The goldfinch flew out
at the window into the garden; then it flew back and sat on the lady's
shoulder and on her hand and on her head, and it sang to her, and so
they played together for a time. Then it flew out into the open air
once more, but in a second it darted back through the window and
straight into the lady's bosom.
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