Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 4:05
The Nightingale
An emperor trades a plain little songbird for a jewelled clockwork one, until the night only the real nightingale can save him. Andersen's tale, retold.
Narrator
The Nightingale
The Emperor
The Kitchen Maid
The Chamberlain
The Music Master
DeathOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Nightingale is a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1843 and set at an imaginary Chinese emperor's court. The emperor loves a plain little forest bird, is dazzled by a jewelled clockwork one, and is saved on his sickbed by the real nightingale's song. This bedtime version keeps all the main beats and the comedy of a courtier mistaking a cow for the bird, and plays Death as a quiet, cool shadow rather than a frightening one.
What it teaches
Something real and alive is worth more than a perfect, glittering copy. And true kindness forgives: the nightingale comes back for the emperor who sent it away.
Suits
Ages 4–10
Tips for telling it
- Moo like the cow, then whistle like the nightingale, and let your child say which is which.
- Ask which bird they would rather have, the plain real one or the shiny golden one, and why.
- Keep Death soft and slow, and let the nightingale's song gently send him away.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Nightingale?
- Real, living beauty is worth more than glittering imitations, and true friendship forgives. The nightingale returns to save the emperor who once banished it.
- Was The Nightingale inspired by Jenny Lind?
- Many biographers think so. Andersen fell in love with the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, nicknamed the Swedish Nightingale, around 1843, the year he wrote the story, though she never returned his feelings.
- Is The Nightingale set in China?
- Yes. Andersen set it at the court of an emperor of China, though it is a fairy-tale China of porcelain palaces rather than a real historical one. The clockwork bird is a gift from the Emperor of Japan.
More Fairy tales
All Fairy tales episodes →The Princess and the Pea
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A soaking-wet girl at the gate says she's a princess. The queen has a test: one tiny pea under twenty mattresses. Andersen's classic, retold for bedtime.
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Mother Goat warns her seven kids never to open the door, but the wolf has tricks: chalk for his voice and flour for his paws. A gentle Grimm retelling.
Little Red Riding Hood
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Red takes a basket to Grandmother's, meets a very polite wolf, and learns why we stay on the path. A gentle, funny bedtime retelling of the Grimm tale.
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A miller boasts that his daughter can spin straw into gold. A strange little man can do it, for a price. Can she guess his name? A bedtime retelling.
The Three Little Pigs
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Straw, sticks or bricks? Three little pigs build their first homes, and a very windy wolf comes knocking. A funny, gentle bedtime retelling.
Stone Soup
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A hungry traveller reaches a village where everyone swears they have no food. So he makes soup from a stone. A warm, funny retelling about sharing.
