Cricket201905-06

“We have been search-
ing for you. No one could
f i nd you.”
“I have come to request
that you call an end to
the search. Your people
have greatly disturbed my
home with their shouting
and tramping about. My
friends dare not show their
heads, and it is most upset-
ting to the owl who usually
haunts the night woods.”
The empress had an
idea. “I will call off the
search if you will agree to
stay here and sing to me.
I have fashioned for you a
beautiful golden cage, and I
will open it each evening so
you may sing to my court.”
The nightingale took
a hop back on the window ledge. “Generous ruler, I am sorry, but I will not live
in a cage. Nor do I sing when ordered to. I sing from the heart, where the song
wells up naturally. If you order me to sing, the song will lack true music.”
“I see,” said the empress, and she thought. “Then will you stay here and
sing to me when it pleases you? You may live in my garden and nest in any
tree you wish. If you don’t, I fear my subjects will destroy your forest in their
enthusiasm to fulfill my decree.”
The nightingale saw that he had no option, so he agreed to her terms.
For a time, the empress and her court and all her visitors delighted at the
nightingale’s song. He would open his throat and bring to the listener’s mind
memories either melancholy or joyful, depending on the tune. He would sing
up the sun and sing down the moon. All this could be heard from the great
window in the royal throne room, but sometimes he would come and perch on
the empress’s bedroom window, and his songs would fill her mind with light.