"Tsing-pe!" said the Cavalier; and again he ran up and down all the stairs, and through all the halls and passages, and half the court ran with him, for the courtiers did not like being trampled upon. There was a great inquiry after the wonderful Nightingale, which all the world knew, but not the people at court.
At last they met with a poor little girl in the kitchen. She said:--
"The Nightingale? I know it well; yes, how it can sing! Every evening I get leave to carry my poor sick mother the scraps from the table. She lives down by the beach, and when I get back and am tired, and rest in the wood, then I hear the Nightingale sing. And then the tears come into my eyes, and it is just as if my mother kissed me!"
"Little Kitchen-girl," said the Cavalier, "I will get you a fixed place in the kitchen, with leave to see the Emperor dine, if you will lead us to the Nightingale, for it is promised for this evening."
So they all went out into the wood where the Nightingale was wont to sing; half the court went out. When they were on the way, a cow began to low.
"Oh!" cried the court pages, "now we have it! That shows a great power in so small a creature! We have certainly heard it before."
"No, those are cows mooing!" said the little Kitchen-girl. "We are a long way from the place yet."
Now the frogs began to croak in the marsh.
"Glorious!" said the Chinese Court Preacher. "Now I hear it--it sounds just like little church bells."
"No, those are frogs!" said the little Kitchen-maid. "But now I think we shall soon hear it."