he Happy
Prince shall praise me."

* * * * *

THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE

"She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,"
cried the young Student; "but in all my garden there is no red rose."

From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she
looked out through the leaves, and wondered.

"No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled
with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have
read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of
philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made
wretched."

"Here at last is a true lover," said the Nightingale. "Night after night
have I sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told
his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the
hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire; but
passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set her seal
upon his brow."

"The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night," murmured the young Student,
"and my love will be of the company. If I bring her a red rose she will
dance with me till dawn. If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in
my arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her hand will
be clasped in mine. But there is no red rose in my garden, so I shall
sit lonely, and she will pass me by. She will have no heed of me, and my
heart will break."

[Illustration: SHE WILL PASS ME BY]

"Here indeed is the true lover," said the Nightingale. "What I sing of,
he suffers: what is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely Love is a
wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine
opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the
market-place. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be
weighed out in the balance for gold."

"The musicians will sit in their gallery," said the young Student,
"and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the
sound of the harp and the violin. She will dance so lightly that her
feet will not touch the floor, and the courtiers in their gay dresses
will throng round her. But with me she will not dance, for I have no red
rose to give her;" and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried
his face in his hands, and wept.

"Why is he weeping?" asked a little Green Lizard, as he ran past him
with his tail in the ai