Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air. Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the sea.

The young Student was still lying on the grass, where she had left him, and the tears were not yet dry in his beautiful eyes.My roses are white," it answered; "as white as the foam of the sea, and whiter than the snow upon the mountain. But go to my brother who grows round the old sun-dial, and perhaps he will give you what you want."

The Nightingale and the Rose", song no. 2 from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's song cycle Four Songs, Op. 2 (1865–1866) However, the Nightingale is stunned by the boy’s reaction and equates the passion in the boy to a character he normally sings about when he says, “here at last is a true lover,”(Del 5). He proceeds to say “that night after night I have sung of him, though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to the stars, and now I see him” (Del 8). No red rose in all my garden!' he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. 'Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.' The nightingale looks for a red rose diligently but she couldn’t.The nightingale looks for a red rose diligently but she couldn’t.arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and herarms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,' cried the young Student; 'but in all my garden there is no red rose.' The life of the Irish novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is as famous as – perhaps even more famous than – his work. But in a career spanning some twenty years, Wilde created a body of work which continues to be read an enjoyed by people around the world: a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; short stories and fairy tales such as ‘The Happy Prince

When Nightingale asks him for a way of getting a red rose, he refuses to tell her because he does not want her to lose her life. But the Nightingale performs this suicidal act by pressing her heart against one of his thorns, giving her heart’s blood to the rose to dye it red. The musicians will sit in their gallery,' said the young Student, 'and play upon their stringed instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin. She will dance so lightly that her feet will not touch the floor, and the courtiers in their gay dresses will throng round her. But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her;' and he flung himself down on the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept. You said that you would dance with me if I brought you a red rose,’ cried the Student. ‘Here is the reddest rose in all the world.

Short story by Oscar Wilde

A cantata by Henry Hadley, an American composer and conductor, The Nightingale and the Rose, libretto E. W. Grant, Op. 54, S, SSAA, orchestra (New York, 1911)