One day a certain merchant caught a nightingale in the forest and brought it home. He ordered a beautiful cage made of gold, decorated it with precious stones - one thing to behold. The merchant put the nightingale in this cage. He hired a special servant to look after the bird.
The merchant's garden was fragrant with many different flowers. In the middle of the garden there was a white marble pool with seven fountains. The merchant ordered the cage with the nightingale to be hung in the shade next to the pool and came every evening to admire the bird.
And the nightingale sang sad songs all the time and was sad.
The merchant found a man who understood the language of birds and asked him to find out the reason for the nightingale’s sadness.
“Mr. merchant,” says the man who knows the language of birds, “the nightingale yearns for his homeland, for his native nest, for freedom.” He sings: “It’s better to be a beggar in your homeland than a crown in a foreign land.”
The merchant sees that the nightingale is wasting away every day. He opened the cage and released the bird into the wild. The merchant and the man who knew the language of birds mounted their horses and galloped off after the nightingale. The nightingale flew over the mountains, flew over the valleys, swam in rivers, drank water from springs, flew for a long time or a short time to a hollow in the forest, flew into it and exclaimed:
- Ah, homeland! How beautiful you are!
And the nightingale sang a cheerful song, jumping from branch to branch, from tree to tree.
“It’s amazing,” says the merchant, “I kept him in a golden cage, among the roses, fed him, watered him, but he likes the hollow more.”
“Mr. merchant,” said the man who knows the language of birds, “don’t be surprised.” Everyone cherishes their homeland, their father’s house. The nightingale is free here. Freedom is above all.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru