he Emperor lived in the most beautiful palace in the world and it was
a very costly one, for it was made of the finest porcelain, and was so
brittle that you had to be very careful if you touched it. It was
surrounded by such a large garden that the gardener himself did not
quite know where it ended. Lovely flowers grew in luxuriance, and,
lest people should pass the most beautiful without noticing them,
peals of silver bells were tied to their stems.

Truly, everything was carefully planned in the Emperor's garden. If
you kept on far enough, you came to a mighty forest which stretched
down so close to the margin of the sea that the poor fishermen in
their boats could sail under the overhanging branches.

In one of these boughs a nightingale lived, and so beautiful was its
song that the rough sailors would stop to listen on their way out to
spread their nets.

"Ah, what beautiful music!" they would exclaim, and then they had to
sail on, for they had their work to do. And again, when nightfall
came, and the bird sang, and the boats came drifting home on the tide,
they would say:

"Heavens! how gloriously that bird sings!"

Travellers came from all over the world to see the Emperor's city and
his palace and garden; but when they heard the Nightingale, they would
say:

"That is most beautiful of all."

And when the travellers reached their homes again, they told all their
friends of the wonderful things they had seen and heard; and wise
people wrote books, in which they did not forget to tell of the
Nightingale, which was pronounced the loveliest among many lovely
things. Even the poets wrote verses about this Nightingale that lived
in the wood by the sea.

And then, one by one, the books travelled over the world, until some
at last reached the hands of the Emperor, who sat in his golden chair
and read them, nodding his head with pleasure; for he was charmed with
the beautiful descriptions of his city and castle and garden. Then he
read the words:

"The Nightingale is the most lovely thing of all!"

"What is this?" he said. "The Nightingale! I have never heard of such
a bird, yet there seems to be one in my empire--and in my own garden!
Imagine learning of such a thing for the first time from a book!"

Thereupon he summoned his Chamberlain, who was a very important
person, and who never replied more than "Paugh!" to any inferior who
dared to ask him anything. This, of course, was no answer at all.

"This bo