"Good day, fair damsel!" it said. "May I ask what it is you are looking for?"
Ananda wheeled around in terror, but there was no person visible behind her. Only she noticed a richly carved table in the corner with a gold cage upon it, and in the cage a beautiful snow-white bird.
"Who could have been speaking?" said she to herself, still looking in every direction, and, as if in answer to her thought, the white bird moved on his golden perch and spoke again.
"Damsel, I bid you good day, and welcome to my dwelling. But pray tell me what it is you are seeking?"
Ananda stared in astonishment. "So it was you who spoke!" said she. "In truth, I hadn't noticed you before!" And then, bethinking her of the question twice asked, and not yet answered, she continued, "I beg your pardon—I have come to seek my father's goat which is lost. I followed his hoof marks to the door of this cave and had hoped to find him within."
