The Firebird in the Golden Cage

This is a piece I did years ago, but it fits this week's Illustration Friday topic so well ("Caged"). The medium was colored pencils and the inspiration was a combination of the allegory of the firebird and the fairy tale "The Golden Bird." The fairy tale always made me angry because the "hero" was some prince who got a happy ending through luck, even though he took absolutely none of the good advice he was given until it was too late. Repeatedly. The title character, the golden bird, was just another piece of treasure that the prince ended up with by the end, even though it was the bird that really started the whole story when it stole a golden apple.