will break the artificial bird
into a thousand pieces."

"No; do not do that," replied the nightingale; "the bird did
very well as long as it could. Keep it here still. I cannot live in
the palace, and build my nest; but let me come when I like. I will sit
on a bough outside your window, in the evening, and sing to you, so
that you may be happy, and have thoughts full of joy. I will sing to
you of those who are happy, and those who suffer; of the good and
the evil, who are hidden around you. The little singing bird flies far
from you and your court to the home of the fisherman and the peasant's
cot. I love your heart better than your crown; and yet something
holy lingers round that also. I will come, I will sing to you; but you
must promise me one thing."

"Everything," said the emperor, who, having dressed himself in his
imperial robes, stood with the hand that held the heavy golden sword
pressed to his heart.

"I only ask one thing," she replied; "let no one know that you
have a little bird who tells you everything. It will be best to
conceal it." So saying, the nightingale flew away.

The servants now came in to look after the dead emperor; when, lo!
there he stood, and, to their astonishment, said, "Good morning."

THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

"That was a terrible affair!" said a hen, and in a quarter of the
town, too, where it had not taken place. "That was a terrible affair
in a hen-roost. I cannot sleep alone to-night. It is a good thing that
many of us sit on the roost together." And then she told a story
that made the feathers on the other hens bristle up, and the cock's
comb fall. There was no doubt about it.

But we will begin at the beginning, and that is to be found in a
hen-roost in another part of the town. The sun was setting, and the
fowls were flying on to their roost; one hen, with white feathers
and short legs, used to lay her eggs according to the regulations, and
was, as a hen, respectable in every way. As she was flying upon the
roost, she plucked herself with her beak, and a little feather came
out.

"There it goes," she said; "the more I pluck, the more beautiful
do I get." She said this merrily, for she was the best of the hens,
and, moreover, as had been said, very respectable. With that she
went to sleep.

It was dark all around, and hen sat close to hen, but the one
who sat nearest to her merry neighbour did not sleep. She had heard
and yet not heard, as we are often oblige