The Nightingale and the Rose

A young student is desperate to find a red rose to win the heart of a girl. A nightingale overhears him and sets out to find a red rose. She goes to the first rose tree but its flowers are white. The second tree’s flowers are yellow and the third tree’s flowers, which were red, have all died from the cold. However, the tree tells the bird that she can make a red rose if she is prepared to sing while piercing her heart with a thorn and letting her blood flow into the tree. She decides to do it. That night, she begins to sing and a rose opens on the tree. It is white and the bird has to press deeper against the thorn. The rose turns a beautiful red, but the bird doesn’t see it. She is dead. The next day, the student finds the rose outside his window. He runs to the girl but she is not impressed by the rose as someone has already given her some fine jewels. He throws away the rose, and decides that love must be a stupid thing since it promises things it can’t deliver, and it is not as valuable as learning useful things in books.