Part 24 (1/2)

”No, those are the frogs,” said the little kitchen-maid ”But now I think we shall soon hear it”

And then the Nightingale began to sing

”There it is,” said the little girl ”Listen, listen--there it sits!” And she pointed to a little gray bird in the branches

”Is it possible!” said the Lord-in-Waiting ”I had never supposed it would look like that How very plain it looks! It has certainly lost its color froale,” called out the little kitchen- for hiale, and it sang, and it was a joy to hear it

”It sounds like little glass bells,” said the Lord-in-Waiting; ”and just look at its little throat, how itto think we have never heard it before! It will have a real _success_ at Court”

”Shall I sing for the Eht that the Ehtingale,” said the Lord-in-Waiting, ”I have the great pleasure of bidding you to a Court-Festival this night, when you will enchant His I”

”My voice sounds better aale

But it caly when it knew the Ereat deal of furbishi+ng up at the palace The walls and ceiling which were of porcelain, shone with the light of a thousand golden la kind were placed in the passages There was a running to and fro and a great draught, but that is just what , and one could not hear oneself speak In the olden rod had been set up on which the Nightingale was to perch The whole Court was present, and the little kitchen-maid was allowed to stand behind the door, for she had now the actual title of Court Kitchen-Maid All were there in their sray bird to which the Eloriously that tears sprang into the Eale sang even ht to the heart, and the Eale should have his golden slipper to hang round its neck But the Nightingale declined It had already had its reward

”I have seen tears in the Ereatest reward

An Emperor's tears have a wonderful power God knows I alorious voice was heard

”That is theI have ever known,” said the ladies sitting round, and they took water into their le when anyone spoke to theale Even the footmen and the chamberreat deal, for they are always the most difficult people to please Yes, indeed, there was no doubt as to the Nightingale's success It was to stay at Court, and have its own cage, with liberty to go out twice in the daytiht Twelve footmen went out with it, and each held a silk ribbon which was tied to the bird's leg, and which they held very tightly There was notof that sort The whole toas talking about the wonderful bird, and when two people ale,” and they sighed and understood one another Eleven cheese-h none of thee parcel caale”

”Here we have a new book about our wonderful bird,” said the Emperor

But it was not a book; it was a little work of art which lay in a box-- an artificial Nightingale, which looked exactly like the real one, but it was studded all over with diamonds, rubies and sapphires As soon as you wound it up, it could sing one of the songs which the real bird sang, and its tail old Round its neck was a ribbon on which ritten: ”The Eale is poor indeed, cohtful,” they all said, and on the ht the artificial bird, they bestowed the title of ”I together, and _what_ a duet that will be!”

And so they had to sing, but the thing would not work, because the real Nightingale could only sing in its oay, and the artificial Nightingale went by clockwork

”That is not its fault,” said the band- point and it has quitealone It had just as much success as the real bird, and it was so littered like bracelets and breast-pins It sang the same tune three and thirty tily listen to the whole perforested that the real Nightingale should sing for a while--where was it? nobody had noticed it had flown out of the openback to its green woods

”But what is theof all this?” said the Eale and said it was a rateful creature

”We have the better of the two,” they said, and the artificial Nightingale had to sing again, and this was the thirty-fourth time they had heard the same tune But they did not know it properly event then because it was so difficult, and the band-hest terms and even asserted that it was superior to the real bird, not only as regarded the outside, with the many lovely diaentlemen, and above all your Iale, you can never predict whatis settled beforehand; so it reed One can account for it One can rip it open, and show the hu how the cylinders lie, how they work, and how one thing is the result of another”

”That is just e think,” they all exclaimed, and the bandmaster received per Sunday The E They listened and were as hted as if they had been drunk with tea, which is Chinese, you know, and they all said: ”Oh!” and stuck their forefingers in the air, and nodded their heads But the poor fisherale, said: ”It sounds quite well, and a little like it, but there is soale was banished frodom

The artificial bird had its place on a silken cushi+on close to the Eold and precious stones, lay all round it, and it had been honored with the title of High-Ier--in the first rank, on the left side, for even the Erander on which the heart is placed, and even an Emperor has his heart on the left side

The band-master wrote twenty-five volumes about the wonderful artificial bird The book was very learned and very long, filled with the e, and everybody said they had read and understood it, for otherwise they would have been considered stupid, and would have been trampled upon