If there is one story I like to read with my students, it is precisely this story I bring you today, by the writer Oscar Wilde, The Nightingale and The Rose. Not only do I like it because it's a short and easy story to read, but also because of the current valid and universal theme: love and materialism.

As we are in the wave of love, this is one of those texts that we must all know and read, at least once in our lives. As I said at the beginning, this is a story by the great and renowned Irish writer, Oscar Wilde, published in 1888. This fairy tale tells the story of a young student who is unhappy because the girl with whom he is in love, the daughter of his teacher, has told him that he will only dance with him if he gives him a red rose in return and there is no red rose in the garden. Seeing the student's unhappiness, a nightingale does the impossible to get that rose, but in the end reality surpasses love.

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Everything begins when the student, in front of his window, cries because in the garden there are no red roses and his beloved, has asked for a rose in exchange for dancing with him at the party that the prince will give the next day:

-Ah, what an insignificant thing happiness depends on! -shouted the young man. The prince gives a dance tomorrow night and my beloved will attend the party. If I bring him a red rose, he will dance with me and I will hold it in my arms. But there are no red roses in my garden, so I will lose them forever.

From the beginning of the story, we observe two fundamental things in this story: first, the way the teacher's daughter lets it be seen that she is interested, by setting a condition to be able to dance with the student: only if the student gives her a red rose will she dance with him; and second, the student believes that a red rose is insignificant. It is only important for him, because with it he will be able to dance with his beloved.

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When they saw the student crying, all the animals near the window and in the garden began to ask why he was crying, but when the nightingale told them why he was crying, the animals said it was no big deal; only the nightingale knew how important love was. So, moved by the student's crying, he spread his wings and went to a beautiful rose bush to ask for a red rose:

Give me a red rose," said the nightingale to the rose bush, "and I will sing you my sweetest songs.
My roses are white," answered the rose tree. Go get my brother who grows around the old sundial and maybe he'll give you what you want.

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And the nightingale went to the rose bush of the old clock and the rose bush told him that his roses were yellow, to go to the rose bush that grew under the student's window. The nightingale flew towards the rose bush and discovered that the rose bush, although it gave red roses, had frozen its roots in winter and would no longer give red roses at that time. The nightingale, knowing that the red rose was important to the student, asked if there was a way to obtain a red rose:

-If you need a red rose," said the rose tree, "you have to make it with notes of moonlight music and dye it with blood from your own heart. You will sing for me with your chest resting on my thorns. You will sing for me all night long and the thorns will pierce your heart: the blood of your life will run through my veins and become my blood.

As we read this, we realize that it is a very expensive price that the nightingale has to pay for a red rose, however, he decides to accept the proposal in the name of love and for the happiness of the student. This is how the nightingale gives his life to get a red rose:

When the moon was shining the nightingale flew to the rose bush and placed his chest against the thorns. And all night he sang with his chest resting on the thorns until a red rose was born, the most beautiful rose of all those that have ever existed.

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The next day, the student wakes up, he finds the red rose in the garden and immediately takes it to his beloved so that she may fulfill the promise to dance with him. But when she arrives, the girl tells the student that the chamberlain's son has brought him jewels and that jewels are better than roses. The disappointed student throws the rose in a dumpster and says that love is useless, that there are more important and practical things than this feeling.

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At the end of the story, we discovered that we were not so wrong with the teacher's daughter: she was a materialistic, vain and selfish woman, who was only interested in what she could receive in exchange for her love and beauty. On the other hand, the student wasn't so much in love because when he heard the girl's words, his reaction was to despise love, disappointed, and throw out the red rose. The nightingale, on the other hand, was the only character who really believed in love.

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After reading this story, we can't stop thinking about the sacrifice that the nightingale makes in the name of love and at the end see how it ends: without anything and without life. There is no gratitude in the professor's daughter because the student brought her a red rose, only contempt; neither does the student have a noble attitude. Just as there are people who can believe and give everything for love, there are other practical people who take advantage of the situation and the people. There is a quotation from the French writer Stendhal that says: Love is a wonderful flower, but it is necessary to have the courage to look for it at the edge of a horrible precipice. Loving is brave, as brave as the nightingale who gave his life for him.

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I hope you liked this story by Oscar Wilde and are interested in reading his extraordinary work. Remember to vote for Hive account@adsactly-witness as a witness and join our server in discord.