Sultan Solyman. 145 



vibrate, and deepen and flood all the moonlit fields and 

 meadows round about. How the other birds can sleep 

 soundly in their nests is indeed a wonder ! 



The thought of this recalls to us that exquisite legend 

 of the great Sultan Solyman Solyman the Magnificent 

 of whom it is told (for he was a great bird lover) 

 that all the birds came by deputation to implore Soly- 

 man to stop the song of the nightingale, because his 

 piercing notes spoiled their sleep, and by consequence 

 took from the freshness and the fulness of their song 



NIGHTINGALE. 



by day. But Sultan Solyman, after hearing all that 

 the birds had to say, and also the defence set forth by 

 the nightingale (which was mainly to the effect that, if 

 he ceased to sing and tell his tale of longing to the 

 rose, that flower itself might cease to grow, or to shed 

 any longer its sweet scents abroad), gave answer that 

 he was deeply sorry he could not interfere to secure 

 what the birds prayed for. If the nightingale did 

 indeed rob them of their sleep, he could not in the end 

 injure their song that could be due only to their own 

 fault nay, he could but improve it ; for they would 



K 



