out of his eyes and ran down his cheeks. That was a great
success. They asked the little Nightingale to sing, over and over again,
and when they had listened enough the Emperor said that she should be
made "Singer in Chief to the Court." She was to have a golden perch near
the Emperor's bed, and a little golden cage, and was to be allowed to go
out twice every day. But there were twelve servants appointed to wait on
her, and those twelve servants went with her every time she went out,
and each of the twelve had hold of the end of a silken string which was
tied to the little Nightingale's leg! It was not so very much fun to go
out that way!

For a long, long time the Nightingale sang every evening to the Emperor
and his court, and they liked her so much that the ladies all tried to
sing like her; they used to put water in their mouths and then make
little sounds like this: _glu-glu-glug_. And when the courtiers met each
other in the halls, one would say "Night," and the other would say
"ingale," and that was supposed to be conversation.

At last, one day, there came a little package to the Emperor, on the
outside of which was written, "The Nightingale." Inside was an
artificial bird, something like a Nightingale, only it was made of gold,
and silver, and rubies, and emeralds, and diamonds. When it was wound
up it played a waltz tune, and as it played it moved its little tail up
and down. Everybody in the court was filled with delight at the music of
the new nightingale. They made it sing that same tune thirty-three
times, and still they had not had enough. They would have made it sing
the tune thirty-four times, but the Emperor said, "I should like to hear
the real Nightingale sing, now."

But when they looked about for the real little Nightingale, they could
not find her anywhere! She had taken the chance, while everybody was
listening to the waltz tunes, to fly away through the window to her own
greenwood.

"What a very ungrateful bird!" said the lords and ladies. "But it does
not matter; the new nightingale is just as good."

So the artificial nightingale was given the real Nightingale's little
gold perch, and every night the Emperor wound her up, and she sang waltz
tunes to him. The people in the court liked her even better than the old
Nightingale, because they could all whistle her tunes,--which you can't
do with real nightingales.

About a year after the artificial nightingale came, the Emperor was
listeni