Three Short Stories [antikvár]

THE NIGHTINGALE^ AND THE ROSE By Oscar Wilde "She said that she woul dance with me if I brought her red roses," cried the young Student; "but in all my garden there is no red rose." From her nest in the holm-oak^ tree the Nightingale heard him, and she hooked out through the leaves, and wondered. "No red rose in all my garden!" he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. "Ah, on what little things does happiness depend-^! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine^, yet® for want of® a red rose is my life made wretched^." "Here at last is a true lover," said the Nightingale. "Night after night® have I sung^ of him, though I knew him not^°: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the hyacinth^} - blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire^-; but passion^^ has made his face like pale ivory^"*, and sorrow has set her seaP-' upon his brow^®." "The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night," murmur-ed^^ the young Student, "and my love^® will be of the company.^® If I bring her a red rose, she will dance with me till dawn.2® If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in my arms, and she will lean-^ her head upon my shoulder, and her hand will be clasped in mine.^^ But there is no red rose in my garden, so I shall sit lonely^®, and she will pass me by^^. She will have no heed of me^®, and my heart will break."