One day, five little children were playing indoors on a carpet in their playroom when the youngest one, who was called Lamb, saw a golden egg. The children clustered around the strange egg that was golden and wondered whether it was magical.
“Let’s try some magic on it!” said Jane.
“Abracadabra!” said Cyril, but the egg lay still.
“Open Sesame!” said Anthea, but the egg didn’t move.
Robert suggested that they should make a fire and try chanting. So, in the fireplace, they made a fire and Robert waved a piece of cloth. It caught the egg and knocked it into the fireplace in their house.
The children were amazed when they saw the egg growing larger and larger! Suddenly, the egg burst and a strange-looking fire bird flew right out of it. It was bright like a flame and dazzling in its brilliance.
The fire bird flew around the room and the five children watched in great astonishment. They wondered what kind of a bird it was—a peacock or a lark or a parakeet.
The fire bird suddenly spoke asking, “Who put the egg in the fire?”
This made the children feel very worried, for it was actually by an accident that Robert had knocked the egg into the fireplace.
Finally, feeling very scared, they pointed to Robert.
“Thank you, kind sir!” said the bird, bobbing in front of Robert, “The warmth of that fire helped me break out of the egg!”
“But who are you?” asked the children, who were still puzzled.
The bird replied, “Don’t you know?”
“I know!” said Robert, “You are a Phoenix!”
And the happy Phoenix flew away out of the window.
