1. Have You Seen the nightingale? A and Dialogue 2

2. Have You Seen The Nightingale?
Courtiers: Have you seen the nightingle?
Tiny little nightingale.
Sitting in the forest, perched up in a piney tree. Nightingale?
Have you heard the nightingale?
Tiny little nightingale. Singing in the forest, a lovely little melody.
Cook: I’ve never seen,
I’ve never heard.
This absurd little bird.

3. Courtiers: If you see the nightingale Cook: If I see the nightingale
Courtiers: Tell the little nightingale Cook: I’ll tell the little nightingale
Courtiers: Hurry to the palace, the emperor has called for thee. Cook: Very well then.
Chief of Staff: Excuse us, Imperial nurse.
Courtiers: Have you seen the nightingle? Tiny little nightingale. Sitting in the forest, perched up in a piney tree. Nightingale?
Have you heard the nightingale? Tiny little nightingale. Singing in the forest, a lovely little melody.

4. Nurse: I’ve never heard I’ve never seen. I don’t know what you mean.
Courtiers: If you see the nightingale Nurse: If I see the nightingale
Courtiers: Tell the little nightingale Nurse: I’ll tell the little nightingale
Courtiers: Hurry to the palace, the emperor has called for thee.
Nurse: I’ll tell the little nightingale
Nurse: I’m on it courtiers!
Have you seen the nightingale? Have you heard the nightingale?

5. Dialogue 2
Narrator 1: Having searched upstairs and down, near and far, inside and out, the imperial courtiers returned to the emperor.
Emperor: Well, what have you found?
Chief of Staff: Your majesty, I am not certain that this nightingale truly exists. It must be a fable.
Timekeeper: You cannot believe everything contained in books.
Physician: Sometimes stories a re made up by clever people.
Music Master: It’s called fiction, your majesty, and it’s considered a form of art.
Emperor: The books in which I have read these accounts were sent to me by great and mighty emperors. Therefore, they cannot contain a falsehood! Now I want you to find this precious bird immediately or I shall have you all…

6. Cook: Your imperial majesty! I have found a girl who knows of the bird!
Emperor: You have? Who is this girl?
Cook: A poor little maiden from the palace kitchen.
Little Girl: Your majesty.
Emperor: Little one, you have seen the nightingale?
Little Girl: Oh yes, I know her quite well.
Chief of Staff: Tell us, young child.
Little Girl: Every evening I have permission to take the scraps from the table home to my poor sick mother. She lives by the seashore, and as I journey back to the palace, I feel tired so I pause in the forest to rest.
Emperor: And the bird flies to your side?

7. Little Girl: Oh no, the nightingale sings from her perch on the branches of a tall pine tree. Her music is so beautiful that tears come into my eyes, just as if my mother had kissed me.
Narrator 2: The emperor, like most emperors, possessed a mighty arm, but knew when to use a gentle touch.
Emperor: How grateful I will be if you assist be with my pursuit.
Little Girl: How may I help?
Emperor: Will you lead my courtiers to the tall pine where the nightingale sings?
Little Girl: It would be my honor, your majesty.