The Nightingale and the Rose

Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright, wrote The Nightingale and the Rose. It is a short story about love and sacrifice. In the story a young student is in love with a young woman.

The student asks the woman to go to a ball with him, but she tells him she will dance with him only if he gives her a red rose. However, the student's garden has no roses.

The nightingale listens to the student in despair over his situation and feels sorry for him. She knows how rare true love is, and she recognizes that the student is really in love.

She flies to a rose bush and offers to sing in exchange for a red rose. The rose bush only produces white roses, so it cannot give her what she wants. It suggests that she ask another rose bush.

The nightingale makes the same proposal to the next rose bush, but it only produces yellow roses. It directs her to the rose bush right under the student's window. Although the rose bush produces red roses, winter has frozen its branches so it cannot produce any.

The nightingale asks if there is any way for her to get a red rose for the student. The rose bush replies that there is a way, but she must do a terrible thing. The only way is to sing by moonlight while allowing a thorn to pierce her heart. Her blood can then seep through to the bush and produce a red rose. The nightingale agrees because she believes love is more valuable than life and a human heart is more precious than hers.

The nightingale sings with her heart against the thorn until it pierces her heart. The blood from her heart pierces the bush and produces a red rose, but by the time the flower has formed the nightingale is dead.

The next morning the students sees the red rose in his garden. He thinks it is merely good luck and picks the rose. When he presents the rose to the woman, she tells him that another suitor has given her jewels. Jewels are more valuable than flowers, so she will dance with another man at the ball.

The student angrily throws away the red rose. Then he walks home and decides to reject love. He prefers to focus on his studies, which are more practical.

The nightingale is the true love, the one who sacrifices her life. She truly loves the student, but he does not realize it. On the other hand, the woman does not love the student and does not appreciate his red rose.  The nightingale is very different from the woman who is materialistic and the student who quickly denounces love after he is rejected.