A long time ago in China there lived an emperor. The emperor loved to read books. One day, in the book he was reading, it wrote, "The most beautiful precious¹ treasure is the bird nightingale."

The emperor had never seen or heard of nightingale. "What is nightingale?" No one has ever seen or heard of it.

The emperor was very curious as to what nightingale was. "Bring nightingale to me at once". The servants were worried by the emperor's command. They looked here and there.

One day a little girl said that she knew of nightingale. She said that the bird she had was nightingale. It was a small cute bird. At once nightingale was brought to the emperor.

The emperor was very happy. "Ah ~ is this bird called nightingale?" For the first time in his life, he heard the beautiful voice and was impressed and deeply² moved.

"Please give me nightingale and I will reward³ you handsomely." So nightingale came to live in the palace. Everyday Nightingale sang for the emperor.

Emperor was happy every time he heard Nightingale sing. He was so proud of Nightingale that he allowed the servants to hear it too. However, Nightingale was not happy. Nightingale felt trapped⁴ and had no freedom.

One day the neighboring country sent a gift to the emperor. It was a nightingale doll made of jewels and gold. Every time the doll was wound⁵ up it sang beautifully. Furthermore⁶, the emperor if wanted could hear it everyday.

"It's really amazing. It's beauty is the finest in the world." The real Nightingale was sad. The real Nightingale decided⁷ to leave. It flew off into the forest of freedom.

The Nightingale doll kept on singing. One day the doll broke. No body was able to fix it. The emperor was heart broken.

The emperor became ill. He just laid there waiting to die. Just then, from the window, a beautiful song came flowing in. Everyone looked.

Sitting by the window, Nightingale began singing. Shortly⁸ after, the emperor became better. Nightingale was happy. Soon, the emperor's face was filled with happiness once again.