Aesop's Fables -The man and the nightingale

The Man and the Nightingale

A Man lay listening to a Nightingale's song one summer night. He loved the bird’s song so much that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. "Now that I have caught you," he cried, "you will always sing to me."

"We Nightingales never sing in a cage." said the bird.

"Then I'll eat you." said the Man. "I’ve been told that a nightingale on toast is delicious!"

"Don’t kill me," said the Nightingale; "let me free, and I'll tell you three things that are far better than eating my little body." The Man let him loose, and the bird flew up to a branch of a tree and said: "Number one: never believe a captive's promise. Number two: Keep hold of what you have. And number three: Don’t waste time feeling sorry about something that is gone forever." Then the songbird flew away, laughing.