he sang to her . And that is the way we learnt the whole story . THE NIGHTINGALE In China , as I daresay you know , the Emperor is a Chinaman , and all his courtiers are also Chinamen . The story I am going to tell you happened many years ago , but it is worth while for you to listen to it , before it is forgotten . The Emperor 's Palace was the most splendid in the world , all made of priceless porcelain , but so brittle and delicate that you had to take great care how you touched it . In the garden were the most beautiful flowers , and on the loveliest of them were tied silver bells which tinkled , so that if you passed you could not help looking at the flowers . Everything in the Emperor 's garden was admirably arranged with a view to effect ; and the garden was so large that even the gardener himself did not know where it ended . If you ever got beyond it , you came to a stately forest with great trees and deep lakes in it . The forest sloped down to the sea , which was a clear blue . Large ships could sail under the boughs of the trees , and in these trees there lived a Nightingale . She sang so beautifully that even the poor fisherman who had so much to do stood and listened when he came at night to cast his nets . ` How beautiful it is ! ' he said ; but he had to attend to his work , and forgot about the bird . But when she sang the next night and the fisherman came there again , he said the same thing , ` How beautiful it is ! ' From all the countries round came travellers to the Emperor 's town , who were astonished at the Palace and the garden . But when they heard the Nightingale they all said , ` This is the finest thing after all ! ' The travellers told all about it when they went home , and learned scholars wrote many books upon the town , the Palace , and the garden . But they did not forget the Nightingale ; she was praised the most , and all the poets composed splendid verses on the Nightingale in the forest by the deep sea . The books were circulated throughout the world , and some of them reached the Emperor . He sat in his golden chair , and read and read .
He nodded his head every moment , for he liked reading the brilliant accounts of the town , the Palace , and the XXXXX .
books boughs care chair garden night porcelain travellers trees years