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He heard the sweet song of the nightingale. He was
delighted. He asked his men to bring the nightingale
to his palace.
The next day the
emperor’s men brought
it to the palace. The
emperor told his
servants to keep it
in a golden cage. The
nightingale sang
very sweetly. The
emperor heard its
songs everyday and shed tears of joy. Every evening, the bird was released from the
cage and it came back to the palace in the morning.
One day, the emperor received a gift from a king of a distant land. It was a toy bird.
Its wings were made of gold. It had a crown of diamonds.
The emperor said, “Isn’t it marvellous! If you wind it with a key, it sings!”
All the courtiers were fascinated by the toy bird.
Whenever the emperor or the courtiers wound
the key bird, it would sing all day.They were so
thrilled with it that they forgot all about the real
nightingale. Nobody took interest in its songs.
The poor nightingale felt neglected. It flew
away sadly into the forest. All the people saw
the toy bird and sang its praises.
They said, “Your Majesty, this toy bird not
only sings sweetly but
also looks beautiful. Why did the emperor and
his courtiers forget about the
The nightingale was nightingale?
not beautiful.”
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