Fairytale retellings & Myths Reimagined

The Nightingale

Beautiful songs which can capture the heart. Sounds so soothing that can make even the hearts made of ice melt.

She was a nightingale, a pure spirit of the forest which loved to sing. She and her kind were one of the most ancient shifters, capable to transform and aid the forest and sometimes the humans who would visit it.

Every night, she and her companions would transform into humans and create lullabies, singing for the moon, the nature and love for the forest, the only home they knew. They would let the waterfalls wash their feet, the flowers bloom even at night and the stars glimmer, accompanying them at their joining of voices under the moonlight.

But then the prince of the kingdom, where the forest belonged, decided to destroy it and built a new factory, making weapons for the war he was planning to go. The prince was a young boy of seventeen, eager to fulfill his ambitions, with no love for nature or singing.

The forest fell the day the Nightingale flew above the tiptop of the trees. She saw how cruel the prince was and sorrow filled her tiny, pumping heart; for she had seen that the prince didn't know how beautiful life could be.

Bearing the sadness of seeing her people and her forest disappearing under the hot tongues of the man's inventions, Nightingale decided to reach the prince and teach him the value of life.

She flew towards his palace and started to live close to him, watching over the youth. Closely she observed him from the window of his room, which was facing a large garden.

The nightingale had found shelter there, hiding both day and night, hoping that no one could find her. In the nights, on her human form, she would gaze the moon and cry silently for the loss of her home; she had stopped singing afraid of the prince's fury.

One night the prince decided to scroll the garden thinking of a way to win over the enemy kingdom, far in the south. The garden was quiet, with the blinking stars lightening the sky like fireflies in the summer.

With the white lilies and night flowers in bloom, this small part of his palace looked like a bed made of beauty and petals. He would find peace in here. Surrounded by officials and being the only heir to a throne, the Prince could feel the stress building up to him. So he walked by the soft grass, feeling the fragrance of the night flowers filling his nostrils.

Suddenly he heard a voice, a sound so beautiful which made him shiver from bliss. He had never heard anything like that in his life. Moving closer to the source he saw the beautiful girl, singing loudly. Her hands were stretched towards the sky, her brown long hair with some of her tufts dyed blue was a mass of light and color falling to her back.

Her skin, white like the moonlight, was reflecting upon her gown, a mix made of brown and green leaves, decorated with fragments of green and blue topazes.

Nightingale had decided to sing at least once; she could feel the moon crying together with her, feeling the pain of the dying earth.

"Who are you?" the prince asked and the Nightingale stopped abruptly her singing.

She gazed at him for a moment, staring at his piercing blue eyes, so intense, so different than her own brown.

"I apologize for disturbing you your Highness." She spoke gently and bowed at him.

"Were you singing before?" the Prince asked, still surprised by her polite behavior.

"I always sing at the night; I sing for the moon, the flowers. I hoped to sing for you if it meant to make you happier."

"Why wouldn't I be happier? I have everything I wanted. Power, gold and a kingdom on my feet." The prince pouted with pride at her.

She lowered her gaze and moved her head in disagreement.