“It is like crystal bells!”said the lord—in—waiting，“and just look how the little throat moves up and down．It is really remarkable．We have never heard it before．It will have a great success at Court!”
“Shall I sing to the Emperor once more?”asked the nightingale，forit thought the Emperor was one of the party．
“My excellent little nightingale!”said the lord—in—waiting．“it is my privilege to invite you to a great entertainment at Court this evening，where you will enchant his high Imperial Majesty with your charmingvoice!”
“It sounds best in the green woods，”said the nightingale，but it willingly went with them when it heard that the Emperor wished it．
There were grand doings at the palace．The porcelain walls and floor shone with thousands of gold lamps，the loveliest flowers were set up inthe corridors，and there was such a running about and such a draught that all the bells rang SO much that you could not hear the sound of your ownvoice．
In the middle of the large room where the Emperor sat，a goldenperch had been placed for the nightingale to sit upon．The whole Courtwas there and the little scullery——maid had leave to stand behind thedoor，for she was no longer merely a temporary but a real scullery—maid．Everybody wore their most gorgeous finery and all turned theireyes to the little gray bird when the Emperor nodded to it．
Then the nightingale sang SO beautifully that tears came into the—Em：peor’S eyes and trickled right down his cheeks．Presently in sang more beautifully than ever，SO that the notes seemed to go to the very heart；and the Emperor was so delighted that he said the nightingale should have his gold slipper to wear round its neck．But the nightingale declined with thanks；it had been rewarded enough already，it said．
“I have seen tears in the eyes of the Emperor，and that is the most precious treasure to me．An Emperor’S tears have a wonderful power．God know I have been rewarded enough”；and it sang again with its sweet，heavenly voice．
“That is the most captivating coquetry we know of，”said all the la—dies who were present，and they put water in their mouths SO as to be able to cluck and gurgle when anyone spoke to them．They fancied they，too，were nightingales then；nay，the footmen and waiting—maids themselves said that they were satisfied，and that is a great deal，for they are always the most difficult to please．Yes，the nightingale’S success was complete．
It was now to remain at Court，and to have its own cage and the privilege of walking out twice in the daytime and once at night．It was at—tended by twelve servants，each of whom tied a silk ribbon round its leg and held on fast．There was not very much enjoyment in such a walk as that!i
The whole town talked about the remarkable bird and whenever two persons met，one of them immediately said to the other，“Night!’’and the other said“gale!”and then they sighed and understood each other；nay，eleven chandlers’children were called after it，but not one of them had a single musical note in his whole composition．
One day a large packet arrived for the Emperor and on the outside ofit was written．“The Nightingale
“Here now we have a new book about our famous bird!"said the Emperor；but it was not really a book but a little work of art，which lay ina box．an artificial nightingale which had been made to resemble the liV—ing One，but was covered all over with diamonds，rubies and sapphires·Assoon as you wound up this artificial bird it could sing one of the piecesthe real nightingale sang，and then its neck moved up and down and’aUthe gOld and silver on it sparkled．Round its neck was a little ribbon andon this was written：“The Emperor of Japan’S nightingale is poor com—pared with that of the Emperor of China!”
“That is very pretty!”said they all，and he who had brought the ar—tificial bird immediately received the title of Chief—Imperial—Nightin—gale—Bringer．
“N0w the two must sing together，”said the courtiers．“What a duetit sill be!”
But it would not do at all，for the real nightingale sang in his own way and the artificial bird went by clockwork．“I have no fault tO findwith it．”said the music master；‘‘it’S time is perfect and quite of my school!，，So the artificial bird had to sing alone．It was just as successful as the real one and much prettier to look at besides；it glistened like bracelets and breast——pins．
Three and thirty times it sang one and the same piece and yet wasn’t tired．The peOple would have liked tO hear it all over again，but the Em—pemr thought that the living bird ought now to sing a little—but how was this?NObody had noticed that it had flown out of the open window back to its green woods．lll“Did you ever hear of such a thingI”said the Emperor，and all the courtiers stormed and declared that the nightingale was a most ungrateful creature．
“At any rate we have still the best bird，”they said，and SO the artifi—cial bird had to sing again，and that made the four and t ihirtieth time they had heard the same piece．But even now they did not know all of it，it was SO very difficult．The music master praised the bird above measure，maintaining that it was better than the real nightingale，not only with re-gard to its clothes and the many beautiful diamonds，but also as to its own merit．
“For look now!your Imperial Majesty，and you also，ladies and gentlemen，as regards the real nightingale you call never tell for certain what will come，but as regards the artificial bird everything is fixed and definite．Thus it will be and not otherwise．You can explain all about it．You Call open it and display the ingenuity of man．You Can see the posi·tion of the various parts，how they work and how they follow one after the other!”
“Those ale exactly my own thoughts!”said all present，and the mu—sic master got leave to show the bird tO the people on the following Sun-day．
“They also shan hear it sing．”said the Emperor．、
And hear it they did and were as pleased as if they had been to a tea party and drunk lots of tea，for that is the proper thing to do in China·They all said，“Oh!”and held up their forefingers and nodded；but the poor fisherman who had heard the real nightingale said，“It sounds nice enough，but there is something wanting．I know not what!’’ The real nightingale was banished from the realm．
