The Nightingale - Hans Christian Andersen - ★★★

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AUTHOR: Hans Christian Andersen
GENRE: Short Story, Classic.
RATING: 3 stars.


In a Nutshell: A classic short story written by fairy tale master Hans Christian Andersen. Good, not great.


This story has been on my agenda since many years, but as one of my upcoming audiobooks turned out to be its retelling, I thought it the right time to give this a go.

The plot is fairly simple, though its morals go deep. A vain king falls in love with a nightingale’s beautiful voice and keeps her caged in his court, until a toy nightingale that looks prettier comes his way and earns greater esteem from him. The real nightingale secretly returns to her home in the woods, but comes back after hearing about the king’s illness.

I don’t know how I would have felt about this tale in my childhood. I sure wouldn’t have analysed it deeply. But reading a classic children’s story in adulthood often results in our finding hitherto undetected flaws. Of course, this was first written in 1844, so times are obviously very different and judging it with a 21st century lens isn't justified. But the problem isn't that some things haven’t aged well but that some actions taken by its lead character aren’t justifiable.

The story is interesting to a great extent. The initial judgement the nightingale faces because of its plain looks, the ignorance of those living in the palace to the world beyond its boundaries, the instant replacement of the talented nightingale in favour of a prettier toy despite the latter’s limited range of songs, the value placed by the less fortunate on natural gifts while the fortunate run behind material wealth, the lack of gratitude towards one who makes us happy without asking for anything in return, the unappreciation of real talent in favour of what’s more glittery – all point to the common flaws of human nature then as well as now. This makes the story a good option for adult-child discussions.

I enjoyed most of the story. Where it dipped greatly in my esteem was in the finale. I don’t think the selfish emperor deserved such a happy ending, and more importantly, I didn’t wish the nightingale to pander to the needs of someone who didn’t value her for her true self. Forgiveness is an important trait, but so is self-respect and self-care. Children today shouldn’t glean the wrong moral from the nightingale’s extreme generosity of heart.

As this story is in the public domain, you can read it free of cost on various sites online. I first read it from the below link: http://hca.gilead.org.il/nighting.html. Then I found a comic book version of the story in my library (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22953437-the-nightingale), so I read that book as well. It turned out to be completely faithful to the original story, and worked even better for me thanks to the excellent storyboarding and attractive classic-comic-style illustrations.

Recommended to those who enjoy classic fairytales. Not necessarily a great fit for today’s children, but it might work better with discussion.

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