The Emperor of China learns from a book that the finest thing in his empire is a nightingale singing in the woods by the sea, and his court must hunt it down. The little grey bird’s song moves him to tears, until a gift arrives from Japan: an artificial nightingale studded with jewels that sings one tune perfectly, again and again.
Andersen’s parable of art and nature in H. W. Dulcken’s translation, for children and the adults who read to them. Download the free EPUB.