s
glittering tail moved up and down in time to the notes. A ribbon hung
around its neck, and on it these words were written: "The Emperor of
Japan's Nightingale is nothing compared to that of the Emperor of
China."

"How perfect!" everyone cried, and the Emperor immediately bestowed
the title of the King's-Imperial-Nightingale-Bringer on the courier
who had brought the bird.

"Now we must hear them sing a duet together. How beautiful it will
sound!" they all said. But it did not sound so well as they had
expected, for the real bird sang in a natural way, and just whatever
came into its little throat, and the artificial bird could only sing
waltzes.

"The new one sings quite correctly," said the chief Court musician.
"It keeps perfect time, and understands my own method, I can hear." So
then the new one had to sing by itself and obtained quite as much
applause as the real one had done. Besides, it looked so much
handsomer; glittering and glistening like bracelets and breast-pins.

Over and over again, for quite thirty-three times, it sang the same
tune and yet was not tired. The courtiers would have liked to hear it
again even, only the Emperor said "No, it's the real bird's turn now,
let us ask it to sing."

But where was the Nightingale? Not a soul had seen it fly out of the
open window back to its own green woods.

"Well, well! whatever has become of it?" exclaimed the Emperor. And
all the courtiers united in saying it was a most ungrateful creature.

"After all," they said, "we still have the better bird," and with that
the new one had to sing his song for the thirty-fourth time, and even
then the courtiers had not caught the tune quite correctly, for it was
very difficult and tricky. The Court musician, especially, praised
the bird, and said, not only was its plumage much more handsome, but
its inside was better made, too.

"For your Imperial Highness, and you, my noble lords and ladies, must
see," he went on, "that with a real Nightingale you can never tell
what is coming next, but with an imitation one everything is settled.
One can open it and see exactly how it works, where the waltz comes
from, and why the notes follow one after the other."

The courtiers all agreed with the Court musician, and the Emperor
commanded him to show it to the people on the following Saturday, and
let them hear it sing. This he did, and the Chinese people felt so
pleased and happy they all nodded their heads and shook the