X The Nightingale and the Cuckoo
Bamb. Listen, there is the nightingale!
Grac. Where is she?
Bamb. Don’t you see her there, sitting on that branch? Listen how ardently she sings; and how she goes on and on!
Nugo. (As Martial says) Flet Philomela nefas. (The nightingale weeps at injustice.)
Grac. What a wonder she carols so sweetly when she is away from Attica where the very waves of the sea dash upon the shore not without rhythm (non sine numero).
Nugo. Pliny observes that they sing with more exactitude when men are near them.
Turd. What is the reason for that?
Nugo. I will declare unto you the reason. The cuckoo and the nightingale sing at the same time, that is, from the middle of April till the end of May or thereabouts. These two birds once met in a contest of sweetness of song, when a judge was sought, and because it was a trial concerning sound, an ass seemed the most suitable for this decision, since he of all the animals had the longest ears. The ass rejected the nightingale, because he could not understand her harmony, and awarded the victory to the cuckoo. The nightingale appealed to men, and when she sees a man she immediately pours forth her song, and sings with zest so as to approve herself to him, so as to avenge the wrong which she received from the ass.
Grac. This is a subject worthy of a poet.