The Chinese Nightingale

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was an emperor who lived in China in a porcelain palace. The palace’s gardens were the biggest and most beautiful gardens in the entire world and in that garden lived a nightingale with the most beautiful and enchanting song.
One morning, the Chinese emperor received a letter from an emperor in Japan. The Japanese emperor had heard of the nightingale and wanted to come and listen to it sing. So the emperor called for his Lord Chamberlain and said “Bring the bird for us to listen to this evening.” The Lord Chamberlain didn’t know where to find it and asked the people of the castle if they knew. “I know where it is,” said a servant girl. So off they both went in search of this special little bird.
That evening, the emperor was deeply moved by the bird’s singing. “Dearest nightingale, tell me what it is you have always wanted and I will give it to you,” said the emperor. “I have seen the emperor cry,” replied the nightingale, “and for a singer like me, there is no better reward than that.” So that very same day, the emperor appointed the nightingale Imperial Singer of the Nightstands and gave him a golden cage to live in inside the palace. The nightingale missed his freedom but was comforted by how much the emperor enjoyed his singing.
Then the emperor received a present from the Japanese emperor. It was another beautiful bird, but this time, not a real bird. It was mechanical. The emperor was very pleased with his new mechanical bird and it could sing as well as, if not more beautifully than the nightingale. Again and again the emperor would choose to listen to the mechanical bird rather than the nightingale. This made the nightingale very sad. So sad, that he flew away, back to the peaceful gardens where he came from and back to freedom. Do you think the nightingale will ever return?
The Chinese nightingale was one of the first 10 fairytales from the Fairytale Forest. He had his own special branch to perch on but has become much more.

Since 1999, the Chinese nightingale has turned into something quite different to how it first started in 1952.