Showing results for "The Nightingale and the Rose" in Anthologies & Short Stories

The Nightingale & The Rose is one of Oscar Wilde’s most poignant short stories. A nightingale overhears a student lamenting that he hasn’t a red rose to give to his true love, so she sets out to find a rose, but must sacrifice a great deal to get it. The Nightingale & The Rose was first published in The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888.

This is a fable about real and fake love, with a typically Wildean twist.

A nightingale finds a young, romantic student in tears because he cannot find a red rose for his beautiful ball partner. There are no red roses in the garden. The nightingale visits all the rose trees in the area, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life.

This short fable is a testament to believing in something enough to die for your belief. In this case, the belief rested in the heart of a nightingale. To the bird, true love is worth more than philosophy, wisdom, and even life.

Oscar Wilde's collection of fairy stories are among the greatest and most poignant classics for children and adults alike. Humour, pathos, delightful little characters abound in the stories of The Happy Prince and the Swallow who agrees to keep him company despite approaching winter; The Selfish Giant, who doesn't want children playing in his garden, and The Remarkable Rocket.

En El Ruiseñor y la Rosa se narra la historia de un ave que, al descubrir el amor que un joven le tiene a una señorita, hará todo lo posible para ayudarle a que sea correspondido.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.