夜莺(中)

"That is it!" exclaimed the little girl. "Listen, listen! and yonder it sits."

And she pointed to a little grey bird up in the boughs.

"Is it possible?" cried the cavalier."I should never have thought it looked like that! How plain it looks! It must certainly have lost its colour at seeing such grand people around."

"Little Nightingale!" called the little kitchen-maid, quite loudly, "Our gracious Emperor wishes you to sing before him."

"With the greatest pleasure!" replied the Nightingale, and began to sing most delightfully.

"It sounds just like glass bells!" said the cavalier. "And look at its little throat, how it's working! It's wonderful that we should never have heard it before. That bird will be a great success at court."

"Shall I sing once more before the Emperor?" asked the Nightingale, for it thought the Emperor was present.

"My excellent little Nightingale," said the cavalier,"I have great pleasure in inviting you to a court festival this evening, when you shall charm his Imperial Majesty with your beautiful singing."

"My song sounds best in the green wood!" replied the Nightingale; still it came willingly when it heard what the Emperor wished.

The palace was festively adorned. The walls and the flooring, which were of porcelain, gleamed in the rays of thousands of golden lamps. The most glorious flowers, which could ring clearly, had been placed in the passages. There was a running to and fro, and a thorough draught, and all the bells rang so loudly that one could not hear oneself speak.

In the midst of the great hall, where the Emperor sat, a golden perch had been placed, on which the Nightingale was to sit. The whole court was there, and the little kitchen-maid had got leave to stand behind the door, as she had now received the title of a real court cook. All were in full dress, and all looked at the little grey bird, to which the Emperor nodded.

And the Nightingale sang so gloriously that the tears came into the Emperor's eyes, and the tears ran down over his cheeks; and then the Nightingale sang still more sweetly, so that its song went straight to the heart. The Emperor was so much pleased that he said the Nightingale should have his golden slipper to wear round its neck. But the Nightingale declined this with thanks, saying it had already received a sufficient reward.

"I have seen tears in the Emperor's eyes―that is the real treasure to me. An Emperor's tears have a peculiar power. I am rewarded enough！" And then it sang again with a sweet glorious voice.

"That's the most amiable coquetry I ever saw!" said the ladies who stood round about, and then they took water in their mouths to gurgle when any one spoke to them. They thought they should be Nightingales too. And the lackeys and chambermaids reported that they were satisfied too; and that was saying a good deal, for they are the most difficult to please. In short, the Nightingale achieved a real success.

It was now to remain at court, to have its own cage, with liberty to go out twice every day and once at night. Twelve servants were appointed when the Nightingale went out, each of whom had a silken string fastened to the bird's leg, and which they held very tight. There was really no pleasure in an excursion of that kind.

The whole city spoke of the wonderful bird, and when two people met, one said nothing but "Nightin," and the other said "gale"; and then they sighed, and understood one another. Eleven pedlars' children were named after the bird, but not one of them could sing a note.

One day the Emperor received a large parcel, on which was written "The Nightingale."

"There we have a new book about this celebrated bird," said the Emperor.

But it was not a book, but a little work of art, contained in a box, an artificial nightingale, which was to sing like the natural one, and was brilliantly ornamented with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. So soon as the artificial bird was wound up, he could sing one of the pieces that the real one sang, and then his tail moved up and down, and shone with silver and gold. Round his neck hung a little ribbon, and on that was written, "The Emperor of Japan' s nightingale is poor compared to that of the Emperor of China."

"That is capital!" said they all, and he who had brought the artificial bird immediately received the title, Imperial Head- Nightingale- Bringer.

"Now they must sing together; what a duet that will bel"

And so they had to sing together; but it did not sound very well, for the real Nightingale sang in its own way, and the artificial bird sang waltzes.

"That's not his fault," said the playmaster; "he' s quite perfect, and very much in my style."

Now the artificial bird was to sing alone. He had just as much success as the real one, and then it was much handsomer to look at―it shone like bracelets and breastpins.

Three and thirty times over did it sing the same piece, and yet was not tired. The people would gladly have heard it again, but the Emperor said that the living Nightingale ought to sing something now. But where was it? No one had noticed that it had flown away out of the open window, back to the green wood.

"But what in all the world is this?" said the Emperor.

And all the courtiers abused the Nightingale, and declared that it was a very ungrateful creature.

"We have the best bird, after all," said they.

And so the artificial bird had to sing again, and that was the thirty-fourth time that they listened to the same piece. For all that they did not know it quite by heart, for it was so very difficult. And the playmaster praised the bird particularly; yes, he declared that it was better than a Nightingale, not only with regard to its plumage and the many beautiful diamonds, but inside as well.

"For you see, ladies and gentlemen, and above all, your Imperial Majesty, with a real Nightingale one can never calculale what is coming, but in this artificial bird everything is settled. One can explain it; one can open it and make people understand where the waltzes come from, how they go, and how one follows up another."

"Those are quite our own ideas," they all said.

“这才是它呢!”小姑娘叫道，“听，听!它蹲在那边。”

她指着树枝上一只灰色的小鸟。

“不可能吧?”侍臣叫道，“我可万万没有想到，它会是这副模样!它看上去太普通了!它肯定是看到这么多高贵的人士在场，吓得褪去颜色了吧。”

“夜莺!”厨房的小女孩大声叫道，“我们仁慈的皇帝想让你到他面前唱歌。”

“我太荣幸了！”夜莺答道。它开始唱最好听的歌儿。

“听起来真像玻璃钟的声音!”侍臣说，“瞧它的小喉咙，竟能唱出如此动听的歌来!真是怪了，我们先前从没有听过。这只鸟儿在宫廷里演唱，一定会取得巨大的成功。”

“我能在皇帝面前再唱一次吗?”夜莺问，它还以为皇帝也在场呢。

“我的了不起的小夜莺，”侍臣说，“我非常荣幸地邀请您今天晚上参加宫廷的宴会，这样你就能用你美丽的歌咙，博得皇帝陛下的欢心了。”

“我的歌声在森林里才最好听!”夜莺答道。但它听说皇帝很想听，还是很乐意地去了。皇宫装饰得十分豪华。砌着瓷砖的墙和地板，在数不清的金灯发出的光芒里，闪闪发光。那些挂着银铃，可以发出清晰声音的最美丽的花儿，都摆放在走廊里。人们跑来跑去，带起一阵风，花上所有的铃铛都洪亮地响起来，连人们说话声都听不清了。

在大殿中央，皇帝落座的地方，摆上了一根金柱，夜莺就将站在上面。宫中所有的人都来了，厨房里的小女孩获准站在门后边，因为她已经得到了一个“皇家厨师”的封号。大家都身着盛装，目光聚向灰色的小鸟。皇帝对它点了点头。

夜莺唱得那么动听，皇帝的眼里充满了泪水，泪珠滚滚而落；于是夜莺唱得更动情了，那音乐直穿进皇帝的心中。皇帝大喜，说夜莺有资格把他的金拖鞋挂在脖子上。但夜莺婉言谢绝了，说自己已经得到太多的奖赏。

“我看见了皇帝眼中的泪珠――这对我来说，才是最宝贵的。皇帝的眼泪有一种特殊的力量。我得到的已经够多了。”于是它用甜美的嗓音又唱了起来。

“这是我见过最有魅力的小心肝了，”站在周围的女士们说。当有人跟她们说话的时候，她们就喝些水在嘴里，发出咯咯的笑声。她们以为自己也像夜莺一样呢。童仆和丫环也报告说，他们也心满意足：这种评价也是很有份量的，因为讨他们的欢心才是最难的。简而言之，夜莺取得了巨大的成功。

现在，夜莺要在宫里住下来，它拥有自己的笼子，获准白天可以出笼两次，夜里一次。当夜莺外出的时候，十二个仆人跟着它，每人都牵着一根丝线，拉住夜莺的腿，他们拉得很紧。这种出游真是没有什么快乐可言。

整个城市都在谈论这只神奇的鸟儿。当两个人相遇的时候，一个只要说“夜”，另一个就说“莺”；然后他们就叹口气，都明白对方的意思。12个小商贩的孩子都起了“夜莺”这个名字，但没有一个会唱歌的。

一天，皇帝收到一个大包裹，上面写着“夜莺”。

“我又得了一本关于这著名的鸟儿的书。”皇帝说。

但这不是一本书，而是一件装在盒子里的工艺品，一只人造的夜莺。它的歌唱得和真夜莺一样，而且身上还佩戴了钻石、红玉和蓝玉。人造的鸟儿一装好，就能唱出和真夜莺一样的歌儿。它的尾巴还能上下摇摆，发出金银一样的光来。它的脖子上缠着一根小丝带，上面写着，“比起中国皇帝的夜莺，日本皇帝的夜莺相差甚远。”

“这个很好玩!”他们都说。送来这只人工夜莺的人马上被封了一个头衔：皇家首席护莺使者。

“现在让他们一起来唱。那是个多么美妙的二重奏!”

于是它们就一起唱歌。但这听起来并不好听，因为真夜莺随心所欲地唱，而人工夜莺只会唱“华尔兹舞曲”。

“这不是它的错，”指挥说，“它唱得很完美，而且合乎我的风格。”

于是，人工夜莺就开始独唱。它和真夜莺获得了一样的成功，而且它要比真夜莺漂亮得多――它像手镯和胸针那么闪闪发光。

它把一首曲子反复唱三十三遍，而且还不觉得累。人们还想继续听它唱，但皇帝说，真夜莺也该唱唱了。但真夜莺哪里去了？没有人发现它已经飞出窗户，飞回大森林里了。

“这究竟是怎么回事呢?”皇帝说。

所有的大臣都责怪夜莺，声称它是个忘恩负义的家伙。

“但我们毕竟已经有了一只最好的鸟啦，”他们说。

就这样，人工夜莺又开始唱了起来，这是他们第三十四次听同一首曲子了。尽管这样，他们还是没有记住，因为这首曲子太难了。指挥对这只鸟儿大加赞扬。的确，它说这个鸟比真夜莺要强，这不仅是就它的羽毛和钻石而言，也包括它的内部结构。

“诸位，女士们，先生们，尊敬的皇帝陛下：对于一只真夜莺，谁也猜不出它会唱什么曲子；而这只人工夜莺呢，什么东西都安排好了。人们能够了解它，可以打开它，让人看到‘华尔兹舞曲’是从哪里发出来的，到哪里结束，一个音符是如何接着一个音符的。”

“这正是我们想看到的，”大家都说。