HAVE YOU SEEN THE NIGHTINGALE A AND DIALOGUE

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NIGHTINGALE? A AND DIALOGUE 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.

◦ 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.

◦ 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’m on it courtiers! ◦ Have you seen the nightingale? Have you heard the nightingale?

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…

◦ 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?

◦ 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.