This story is brought to you by BirdNote, a show that airs daily on public radio stations nationwide.
As one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales has it: In the realm of a Chinese emperor many years ago, there was a Nightingale. And its song was so beautiful, it eclipsed the emperor's gardens, his palace of porcelain, everything.
So, as emperors will, he had the Nightingale brought from the woods to sing for him. And he cries, “The song's so beautiful.”
“What a bird,” cry the courtiers.
Before long, the emperor receives a gift: a mechanical Nightingale, encrusted with jewels. It sings only one song, but it keeps perfect time and you always know what to expect. “Incredible.” “What a bird,” cry the courtiers, as the real Nightingale is banished from the palace.
Five years later, the emperor is ill. Death lies on his heart. He orders his mechanical bird to sing, but there's nobody to wind it. Silence. Suddenly, a flutter of song floats by. “Little bird from Heaven, I know you of old,” says the emperor, as the Nightingale flies to his bedside. “I banished you once from my land, and yet you have sung away the evil faces from my bed.”
Death takes flight. The emperor lives. And the Nightingale returns to the green woods, where its song resounds most beautifully.
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Bird sounds are provided by at the , Ithaca, New York. The song of the Common Nightingale was recorded by Martyn Stewart; naturesound.org; Music is Le Rossignol by Igor Stravinsky. BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
Written by Ellen Blackstone and Dominic Black
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org March 2015 Narrator: Michael Stein