Page:Hans Andersen's fairy tales (Robinson).djvu/214

HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES fisherman came out, again he would say, 'Oh! how pretty that is!'

Travellers came from all parts of the world to the Emperor's city; and they admired the city, the palace, and the garden; but if they heard the nightingale, they all said, 'This is the best.' And they talked about her after they went home, and learned men wrote books about the city, the palace, and the garden; nor did they forget the nightingale: she was extolled above everything else; and poets wrote the most beautiful verses about the nightingale of the wood near the sea.

These books went round the world, and one of them at last reached the Emperor. He was sitting in his golden arm-chair; he read and read, and nodded his head every moment; for these splendid descriptions of the city, the palace, and the garden pleased him greatly. 'But the nightingale is the best of all,' was written in the book.

'What in the world is this?' said the Emperor. 'The nightingale! I do not know it at all! Can there be such a bird in my empire, in my garden even, without my having even heard of it? Truly one may learn something from books.'

So he called his Cavalier; now this was so grand a personage, that no one of inferior rank might speak to him; and if one did venture to ask him a question, his only answer was 'Pish!' which has no particular meaning.

'There is said to be a very remarkable bird here, called the nightingale,' said the Emperor; 'her song, they say, is worth more than anything else in all my dominions; why has no one ever told me of her?'

'I have never before heard her mentioned,' said the Cavalier; 'she has never been presented at court.'

'I wish her to come, and sing before me this evening,' said

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