Section 1
In China, there was a king who was Chinese, and everyone around him was also Chinese. This story I’m about to share happened a long time ago, so it’s important to hear it now before it’s forgotten. The king had a palace that was incredibly beautiful. It was made of porcelain, a special type of material, and it was very expensive. However, it was also fragile, so anyone who touched it had to be careful not to break it. The garden of the king had the most unique flowers. They had lovely silver bells attached to them, and when the wind blew, they made tinkling sounds that caught everyone’s attention. Everything in the king’s garden was extraordinary, and it was so vast that even the gardener didn’t know where it ended. People who went beyond the garden knew that there was a magnificent forest with tall trees. This forest stretched all the way to the deep blue sea, and enormous ships sailed beneath the shade of its branches. In one of the trees in that forest, there was a nightingale. She had the most beautiful voice, and her songs were so lovely that even the busy fishermen would stop their work just to listen to her. Sometimes, when the fishermen went out at night to catch fish with their nets, they would hear the nightingale sing and say, “Wow, isn’t that song beautiful?” But as they got busy with their fishing, they would forget about the bird until the next night. Then, they would hear her sing once again and say, “Oh, how incredibly beautiful the nightingale’s song is!”
People from all around the world visited the king’s city, and they loved the city, the palace, and the gardens. However, when they heard the nightingale sing, they all agreed that it was the most wonderful thing of all. When the travelers went back to their own countries, they told everyone about what they had seen. Wise and knowledgeable people even wrote books describing the city, the palace, and the gardens. But they made sure to always mention the nightingale because it truly was the most incredible and amazing thing they had experienced. People who had a talent for writing poetry created lovely verses about the nightingale, who lived in a forest close to the deep sea. These poems were written down in books and traveled to many places in the world. Some of these books even reached the king’s hands. He sat on his special golden chair and read them with great delight. As he read, he nodded in approval because he was happy to find such a beautiful description of his city, palace, and gardens in those verses. But when he read the words, “The nightingale is the most beautiful of all,” he said, “What’s this? I don’t know anything about a nightingale. Is there really a bird like that in my empire? And in my own garden too? I have never heard of it. It seems like there are things we can learn from books.”
Next, he summoned a nobleman who was extremely well-mannered. Whenever someone of lower social standing spoke to him or asked him something, he would dismissively reply with a word that meant nothing, like “Pooh.”
The king exclaimed, “Wow, there’s a super special bird mentioned here! It’s called a nightingale. People say it’s the absolute best thing in my huge kingdom. But why hasn’t anyone ever told me about it?”
“I’ve never heard of that bird before,” replied the cavalier. “She hasn’t been introduced to the royal court.”
“I would very much like it if she could make an appearance tonight,” said the king. “The entire world seems to know what I have in my kingdom better than I do!”
“I’ve never heard of her,” said the cavalier. “But I’ll try my best to find her.”
But where could they find the nightingale? The nobleman searched everywhere, going up and down stairs, through halls and passages. However, none of the people he encountered had heard of such a bird. So he went back to the king and told him that the nightingale might just be a made-up story created by people who write books. “Your majesty,” he said, “you can’t always believe everything you read in books. Sometimes they are just made-up tales or tricks of magic.”
“But the book I read this story from,” said the king, “was sent to me by the powerful king of Japan, and it surely can’t have any lies. I want to listen to the nightingale. She must be here tonight, as she has my utmost favor. And if she doesn’t come, I will be very angry, and everyone in the court will be in trouble after we finish our supper.”
“Tsing-pe!” shouted the high-ranking nobleman. Once again, he hurriedly ran up and down stairs, through all the halls and corridors, and half of the court followed him. They didn’t want the king to be furious, after all. Everyone was curious about this amazing nightingale that the entire world knew about but was unknown to the court. They started asking around to find out more about this extraordinary bird.
