Our friends and all about them By Edith Bland [i.e. E. Nesbit]. Illustrated by Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, Fanny Moody and W. Gilbert Foster |
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Unappreciated. |
 | Our friends and all about them |  |
Unappreciated.
But the horses said that its song was silly
And weak compared with a neigh;
And the donkey wouldn't hear nightingales
When it could hear itself bray.
And weak compared with a neigh;
And the donkey wouldn't hear nightingales
When it could hear itself bray.
And the puppies declared that the song it sang
Was nothing like their bark;
And the stable cat said he could sing better
On a slanting roof in the dark!
Was nothing like their bark;
And the stable cat said he could sing better
On a slanting roof in the dark!
So the nightingale sadly returned to the quest
And sang to the moonlit sky;
And as it sat there singing its sweetest
A pair of lovers went by.
And sang to the moonlit sky;
And as it sat there singing its sweetest
A pair of lovers went by.
“Do you hear the nightingale,” said the maiden,
“Oh yes,” he answered, “I hear;
But the nightingale's voice isn't half as sweet
As somebody else's dear.”
“Oh yes,” he answered, “I hear;
But the nightingale's voice isn't half as sweet
As somebody else's dear.”
Then the nightingale flew in despair to the coverts
Where only wild wood-birds be;
But he told the moon this poor little story,
And the kind moon told it to me.
Where only wild wood-birds be;
But he told the moon this poor little story,
And the kind moon told it to me.
| Our friends and all about them | |