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The Nightingale, Kara Dalkey

The Telling Tales Challenge 2012




     “The Nightingale” is one of my favorite fairy tales and was originally written by Hans Christian Anderson.  It is the tale of a Chinese emperor who learns that the most beautiful thing in his kingdom is the song of the nightingale.  The Emperor orders his subjects to locate the nightingale, and it is revealed that a kitchen main is the only person at the court who knows its whereabouts.  The maid takes the Emperor to the riverside where he is enchanted by the nightingale’s song, and asks the bird to join him at the court.  The nightingale is a favorite at court until the Emperor is given a gift of a mechanical nightingale and looses interest in the real nightingale.  A few years later, the mechanical nightingale is broken and the Emperor is dying.  The nightingale returns to the Emperor and sings so wonderfully that the Emperor is healed.




     I loved the way Dalkey adapted “The Nightingale” into a novel.  The story is set in ancient Japan rather than China, and the nightingale is Uguisu, a flautist and the daughter of a lower-ranking member of court.  She is in love with Takenono, son of the court’s head gardener, but her father won’t allow her to marry him because he wants to use her marriage to increase his position at court. The Imperial court is beautifully described - the festivals, the descriptions of the elegant silk kimonos, the way the members of the court write poems to convey messages to each other.  I particularly liked the way Japanese mythology played a part in the story - Uguisu’s ancestor spirit is actually an oni that possesses the Empereor and is the cause of his sickness, and the Emperor’s cat, Lady Hinata, is the aspect of Amaterasu.



     And I enjoyed the way the relationships between Uguisu and the Emperor and Takenono are resolved.  Takenono, who left at the beginning of the story to become a monk despite his love for Uguisu, knowing he will never be allowed to marry her, plays a vital part in exorcising the oni from the Emperor and falls in love with his religion.  All in all, it’s a sweet little story with a beautiful atmosphere and interesting politics - the Emperor is a mere figurehead who rebels in small ways against the clan who controls the throne.


Top Ten Tuesdays


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.


Top Ten Books on my Winter TBR List

1.  The Nightingale, Kara Dalkey

PaperBackSwap’s final gift to me.  I’ve been a member for two years now, and I’m finally at the point where I just don’t have any more books I want to give up.  Kara Dalkey’s addition to Terri Windling’s Fairy Tale Series is one I’ve been wanting to read for years.

2.  Mortal Love, Elizabeth Hand

One I’ve been meaning to read for a while.  I’ve heard wonderful things about it.

3.  Among the Bohemians and 4.  Singled Out, Virginia Nicholson

I’m not much of a nonfiction reader, but one of my favorite periods is the early 20th century, and I need to do research for a short story I’m writing.


5.  The Children’s Book, A.S. Byatt

I didn’t like Possession, the only A.S. Byatt novel I’ve ever read, but I’m willing to give her another shot.

6.  The Little White Bird and 7.  Peter and Wendy, J.M. Barrie

I haven’t read Peter and Wendy in so long that I can’t remember most of it without thinking of the Disney film.  And I have never read The Little White Bird.  But I’m still on an Edwardian kick that needs fulfillment in some form.

8.  Deathless, Cathryn Valente

Russion folklore and Baga Yaga cameos!  That is what I’ve heard about this book and I would like to make its acquaintance.

9.  The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim

It is on my Netflix queue, and I am eager to read the book so that I might watch the movie.  It looks period-y and gorgeous.

10.  Nightingale Wood, Stella Gibbons

Hated Cold Comfort Farm, but I love the title of this book.