As a young child I remember watching a 80s TV series called Faerie Tale Theatre featuring a very young Shelley Duvall. The episode which I still remember vividly to this day was that of the story of the Nightingale – an adaptation of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
In the story, the Emperor of China (played by Mick Jagger) hears that the song of the nightingale is the most beautiful in all the land and so orders the bird to be brought to him. The nightingale agrees to come and lives in the palace, singing for him every day. One day, the emperor is given a singing mechanical bird and loses interest in the real bird, who returns to his home.
Colour plate in Hans Andersen's fairy tales (1913) Illustration by William Heath
Years later, the Emperor becomes gravely ill when the mechanical bird breaks down and Death is by his side. The Nightingale learns of the Emperor’s condition and returns to the palace. The brave bird sings to Death and convinces him through the beauty of his song to let the Emperor live.
One of the oldest tales of the Nightingale is that of Philomela, a Greek princess which in true Hellenic tradition has a tragic story full of death and betrayal, ending with the gods turning Philomela into a nightingale to escape the clutches of an evil king.
Because of the violence associated with the myth, the nightingale's song was long interpreted as a song of longing, love and loss but also that the bird is always depicted as a female. We obviously now know that it is only the males which sing, both to assert their territorial rights and in an attempt to lure a female.
This week we will be celebrating your nightingale inspired art on our RSPB South East Facebook page. If you have any nightingale art you would like to share please email campaigns@rspb.org.uk
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