The Kite and the Nightingale

Name: The Kite and the Nightingale
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

The Kite and the Nightingale tells of a kite whose thievery has frightened a whole neighbourhood and stirred the village boys to noisy alarm. When a nightingale falls into his path, she begs him to spare a bird valued for music rather than meat. She offers to tell him of Tereus, a wicked king whom she says she taught a repentant lesson, and promises that her song of his downfall will move the kite’s heart. The hungry kite dismisses her offer. He asks whether Tereus is food, and, hearing that he is not, refuses to exchange a meal for a song or a tale, however marvellous. He tells the nightingale to reserve her entertainment for the king, since he himself cannot listen while starving.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Tale · 468 words

First lines

A noted thief, the kite, / Had set a neighbourhood in fright, / And raised the clamorous noise / Of all the village boys, / When, by misfortune, -- sad to say, -- / A nightingale fell in his way. / Spring's herald begg'd him not to eat / A bird for music -- not for meat. / 'O spare! ' cried she, 'and I'll relate / 'The crime of Tereus and his fate. ' -- / 'What's Tereus? [1] Is it food for kites? ' -- / 'No, but a king, of female rights / The villain spoiler, whom I taught / A lesson with repentance fraught; / And, should it please you not to kill, / My song about his fall / Your very heart shall thrill, / As it, indeed, does all. ' -- / Replied the kite, a 'pretty thing! / When I am faint and famishing, / To let you go, and hear you sing? ' -- / 'Ah, but I entertain the king! ' -- / 'Well, when he takes you, let him hear / Your tale, full wonderful, no doubt; / For me, a kite, I'll go without. ' / An empty stomach hath no ear.[2][3]

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The Kite and the Nightingale is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Tale, Allegory, Satire
Length: 468 words
Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Fable — The poem uses talking animals, a brief allegorical encounter, and a concluding moral: hunger and material need outweigh elegant speech or art.
Moral Literature — Its central purpose is didactic, illustrating the proverb that an empty stomach cannot be persuaded or entertained by words.
Animal Tale — The principal characters are a predatory kite and a nightingale whose animal traits represent opposing human attitudes: appetite and artistic persuasion.
Allegory — The birds function symbolically: the kite embodies immediate physical necessity, while the nightingale represents song, culture, rhetoric, and refined art.