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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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