The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde. Short summary

5 seconds

After learning how important it is for a student to find a scarlet rose in order to dance with his beloved, Nightingale sacrifices his life. But his noble deed remains in vain.

1 minute

Nightingale saw the student sad: the professor’s daughter agreed to dance with him if he would bring her a scarlet rose. But the bush under the window had been beaten by frost, it had shrunk, and white and yellow roses were blooming in the neighboring gardens. Nevertheless, Nightingale, the singer of Love, decided to help the student.

He flew to the bush in the neighboring garden and asked for a scarlet rose for his song. But there were white flowers on the bush. He sent the bird to his brother. But there were yellow roses blooming on it. The nightingale returned to the student’s garden.

The withered bush had once bloomed with red roses, but the past winter had proved ruinous to it. In order for the branches to cover them with flowers, they must be bathed in the blood of their hearts. «Death is too high a price for a flower. — thought the Nightingale. — But if a rose gives a student love, then so be it!»

So he pressed his chest against the rose thorn and sang all night, and by morning he was dead. The student found a scarlet rose on the bush and ran with it to the professor’s daughter. But the girl loved diamonds more than flowers and preferred the student to the chamberlain’s son. The young man threw the flower on the ground and went to study. «Love is a silly thing,» he summed up.