The nightingale story

The Nightingale Story is a very popular and grateful story for little kids. This story about one Nightingale named girl story who singing very very beautiful. Read the full story to know more how How did she get a bird to free a king’s cage.

In the days before cars, computers, and corn flakes, there lived an emperor called Choo Ning. He was the Emperor of China a very powerful man. The emperor’s palace was the biggest and best in the world. It had the most beautiful gardens, which were so big that Choo Ning hadn’t even seen most of them. They stretched for miles: over fields to a lake, and then on to a forest in which lived a nightingale. Beyond the forest was the sea. At night the fishermen would drift past, silently casting their nets and praying for a good catch. As they did so, they would hear the nightingale singing. To them, it was a sign that their prayers had been heard.

Important travelers from many countries visited the emperor in his palace. When they returned home they would talk about their adventures, and always they remembered the nightingale and her beautiful song.

One day, a book arrived from the Queen of France. She had visited China the previous summer and had written about her travels. Choo Ning read the book with great pleasure until he came to these words: “The Emperor of China has many amazing things, but the most amazing of all is the nightingale.”

The emperor had never heard of a nightingale.

He summoned his chief adviser and asked, “What’s a nightingale? It’s supposed to be the best thing I have, but I don’t know what it is. Find out, or else I’ll have you clean out the royal guinea pigs for a year.”

The chief adviser scuttled through the palace, asking everyone what a nightingale was. No one knew.

Eventually, he came to the kitchen, where a young maid was stirring the soup for supper that night.

“A nightingale?” she said. “It’s a bird, of course. It sings every night in the forest.”

“Go and fetch it straight away!” commanded the chief adviser.

“Only if you stir this soup,” said the girl. “And say please.”

The chief adviser was so desperate that he did as she asked. The girl ran to the forest, and soon found the tree in which the nightingale was already singing.

“Excuse me, Nightingale, will you come to the palace and sing for the emperor, please?”

“All right,” said the nightingale.

Later that evening, the emperor sat at his golden banquetting table facing a golden perch, on which the nightingale had been placed. The emperor nodded, and the nightingale began to sing. She sang many tunes; each was so beautiful, that the emperor soon had tears of joy running down his cheeks, which made his beard all soggy.

“I shall keep you here in a cage,” said the emperor when the bird had finished. “Then you can sing for me every day.”

“But Emperor,” replied the nightingale. “I sing songs of freedom.”

“Don’t worry, it will be a golden cage, the most valuable in China, if not the world.”

Then the nightingale pleaded, “You can’t tell the worth of something by what it looks like. What’s inside is far more important. How can I build my nest if I am in a cage, even if it is made of gold?”

But the emperor’s mind was made up, and the bird was put in the cage. Every evening she sang for Choo Ning.

Some weeks later a parcel arrived for the emperor. On it was a label: “To Choo Ning, I really enjoyed my visit. I loved hearing your nightingale, but how does this one compare with yours? Best wishes from the Emperor of Japan.”

He opened the parcel and found a beautiful nightingale made of silver and gold, and studded with precious jewels. On the side was a key. It was a clockwork nightingale, and when it was wound up it sang a beautiful song.

“Fetch the real bird. We’ll see which sings the best,” said the emperor. The nightingale was brought and both birds sang. Then the emperor said, “Hmm, I suppose the old bird can sing more tunes, but it looks extremely shabby. Look how the new bird glitters and sparkles.”

Now everyone wanted to marvel at the clockwork nightingale and to hear its one song. The chief adviser had to wind up the bird fifty times. And fifty times the bird sang the same tune.

“Now let’s hear the scruffy old nightingale again,” said the emperor.

But when they looked in the golden cage, it was empty. In the excitement, the door had come unfastened, and the nightingale had flown away. “Of all the cheek!” said the emperor. “That bird shall never be allowed in the palace again.”

For a year, the emperor listened to the clockwork nightingale as often as he could. Every visitor marveled at the splendor of the jeweled bird and its wonderful song. But one day, while it was singing for the Queen of Siam, there was a “whirr, clunk!” – and the bird stopped singing.

The royal clockmaker was called. She examined the inside of the bird, then shook her head and said, “Your Excellency, these clockwork parts are very worn. I’ve done what I can, but the bird should only be made to sing once a day.”

Choo Ning became very sad. The only time he ever smiled was when the clockwork nightingale sang its one and only song each day, and even then he wished it could sing other tunes as well.

Several years passed and the emperor lay ill in bed close to death. He opened his eyes from time to time to look at the silver and gold bird. “Please sing for me,” he pleaded. But the bird had long since broken and just looked at him dumbly. Then, through the window, he heard a song: a strange, yet familiar song. He turned his head and saw the real nightingale land on his window sill.

The bird had answered the emperor’s plea, and once more sang tunes that he had not heard for many years. Eventually, Choo Ning sighed deeply and closed his eyes. When he awoke the nightingale was still there.

“You have saved my life,” he said. “Will you always come if I promise to let you return to your forest?”

“Yes I will,” replied the nightingale. “But only if you also promise to tell no one about me. This way I will be left in peace.”

The emperor nodded. “Very well,” he said.

“Then I will come,” continued the bird. “And I will sing about places and things you cannot see from your palace. My songs will make you a great ruler. I have already shown you one of the most important things you can know: that you cannot tell a person’s worth by what’s on the outside.”

Choo Ning looked back at his old clockwork nightingale, and as he did so one of its wings fell off and fell to the floor with a jangling crash. He smiled and nodded again.

So the emperor got out of bed, much to everyone’s surprise. He lived many more years, and with the help of the nightingale became one of the wisest and kindest emperors China ever had.

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The nightingale story Conclusion

I hope your children very much like The Nightingale Story. This is a very interesting and moral full bedtime story for little kids. If you want to tell Disney princess stories to your kids then check our website Home Page. We write the most powerful and premium stories to your kids. This is very helpful for you to make your children’s night beautiful with full of morals.