No one had noticed her whenshe flew out at the open window, back to her own green woods.
  "What strange conduct," said the emperor, when her flight had beendiscovered; and all the courtiers blamed her, and said she was avery ungrateful creature.
  "But we have the best bird after all," said one, and then theywould have the bird sing again, although it was the thirty-fourth timethey had listened to the same piece, and even then they had not learntit, for it was rather difficult. But the music-master praised the birdin the highest degree, and even asserted that it was better than areal nightingale, not only in its dress and the beautiful diamonds,but also in its musical power. "For you must perceive, my chief lordand emperor, that with a real nightingale we can never tell what isgoing to be sung, but with this bird everything is settled. It canbe opened and explained, so that people may understand how the waltzesare formed, and why one note follows upon another."
  "This is exactly what we think," they all replied, and then themusic-master received permission to exhibit the bird to the peopleon the following Sunday, and the emperor commanded that they should bepresent to hear it sing. When they heard it they were like peopleintoxicated; however it must have been with drinking tea, which isquite a Chinese custom. They all said "Oh!" and held up theirforefingers and nodded, but a poor fisherman, who had heard the realnightingale, said, "it sounds prettily enough, and the melodies areall alike; yet there seems something wanting, I cannot exactly tellwhat."
  And after this the real nightingale was banished from theempire, and the artificial bird placed on a silk cushion close tothe emperor's bed. The presents of gold and precious stones whichhad been received with it were round the bird, and it was now advancedto the title of "Little Imperial Toilet Singer," and to the rank ofNo. 1 on the left hand; for the emperor considered the left side, onwhich the heart lies, as the most noble, and the heart of an emperoris in the same place as that of other people.
  The music-master wrote a work, in twenty-five volumes, about theartificial bird, which was very learned and very long, and full of themost difficult Chinese words; yet all the people said they had readit, and understood it, for fear of being thought stupid and havingtheir bodies trampled upon.
  So a year passed, and the emperor, the court, and all the otherChinese knew every little turn in the artificial bird's song; andfor that same reason it pleased them better. They could sing withthe bird, which they often did. The street-boys sang, "Zi-zi-zi,cluck, cluck, cluck," and the emperor himself could sing it also. Itwas really most amusing.
  One evening, when the artificial bird was singing its best, andthe emperor lay in bed listening to it, something inside the birdsounded "whizz." Then a spring cracked. "Whir-r-r-r" went all thewheels, running round, and then the music stopped. The emperorimmediately sprang out of bed, and called for his physician; butwhat could he do? Then they sent for a watchmaker; and, after agreat deal of talking and examination, the bird was put into somethinglike order; but he said that it must be used very carefully, as thebarrels were worn, and it would be impossible to put in new oneswithout injuring the music. Now there was great sorrow, as the birdcould only be allowed to play once a year; and even that was dangerousfor the works inside it. Then the music-master made a little speech,full of hard words, and declared that the bird was as good as ever;and, of course no one contradicted him.
  Five years passed, and then a real grief came upon the land. TheChinese really were fond of their emperor, and he now lay so illthat he was not expected to live. Already a new emperor had beenchosen and the people who stood in the street asked thelord-in-waiting how the old emperor was; but he only said, "Pooh!"