The Emperor of China was quite astonished by a rumour that spread in his kingdom, “The most fabulous thing in the kingdom is the song of the nightingale in the nearest forest!”
The Emperor called his minister and ordered him to find the songbird. The minister tried to look for someone who knew where to find the bird and finally, found a kitchen-maid who had heard the song-bird. She led them to the place where the bird was singing and they caught it and brought it to the Emperor.
The bird was put in a golden cage and it had to sing every day for the Emperor, who was delighted. It was allowed to fly out sometimes during the day but only with a silken thread tied to its leg.
One day, the Emperor of China received a gift from the Emperor of Japan. He had sent a golden bird. It was an expensive mechanical songbird. When the bird was turned on, it sang a beautiful tune. It could not sing many different tunes like the nightingale.
The Emperor of China was so charmed with the golden bird that he quite forgot the nightingale. One day, when the Emperor and his courtiers were busy enjoying the song of the golden bird, the nightingale escaped from the cage and went back into the forest. But none of them noticed that it had gone.
For a year, the Emperor enjoyed the song of the golden bird. Then one morning, it stopped working. Many experts were called in to repair the mechanical toy but none was able to set it right again.
The Emperor began to miss his nightingale. In fact, he fell ill and lay dying. But the nightingale had flown away. The doctors had no cure for the Emperor till one of them said that the nightingale should come back to sing for him.
Everyone searched for the songbird in the forest, but failed to find the nightingale. The courtiers and the queen were all sad knowing that soon the Emperor would die.
One morning, however, the sweet notes could be heard outside the Emperor’s window. There was the little nightingale, sitting on the Emperor’s window, singing as before. The Emperor sat up to listen to it. The next morning, everyone was surprised and very happy to see the Emperor well once more.
But now the nightingale lived free, not in a cage. The songs were sweeter, for it sang willingly flying free in the palace!
