-Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose
Wilde's fairy tales are very famous, especially among girls, probably because of his beautiful writing style. When I was a child, I saw his Happy Prince, which was a bit heavy for me who was keen on fairy tales with happy endings. After reading it, I felt depressed, but I couldn't say anything. I haven't touched his fairy tales since then. Now that I think about it, maybe his fairy tales are a little dark and not so naive.
Now, on a whim, I have the idea of rereading Wilde's fairy tales. This is the famous nightingale and rose. Lin's translation is also beautiful and agile, and I seem to realize the charm behind Wilde's original text through this translation.
The Nightingale and the Rose tells a beautiful and sad story: the young man wanted to dance with his sweetheart. When his sweetheart asked him to send her a red rose, she agreed. The young man looked all over the garden, but he couldn't find one. He cried with a broken heart. The nightingale knew his trouble and decided to help him. She traded her life for a delicate red rose. The young man found it and gave it to his sweetheart. But my lover prefers the jewels given to her by the colonel. The young man was very angry. He threw the rose into the ditch and let it be crushed by the wheel. He no longer believes in love.
Although this fairy tale is so cruel in reality, Wilde's writing is so fresh that I can't feel sad for a while after reading it completely, but I am moved by the nightingale's sadness.
In order to get roses and complete the love of young people, the nightingale is willing to give her life and water the delicate roses with her own efforts. This kind of sacrifice stems from her trust in love. She believes that love is more precious than life, wiser than philosophy and stronger than strength, so she has no regrets.
She leaned her chest against a thorn in the rose tree and sang songs for it all night. This thorn will pierce her heart, and her blood will flow into the body of the tree and become the blood of the tree. Such a painful sacrifice brought a rose redder than blood. But the destination of this rose is the girl's sentence "Everyone knows that gems are more valuable than flowers". So the flowers were thrown into the ditch and run over by the wheels.
It is said that in Wilde's fairy tales, an image has become "the most beautiful" because of "love". The nightingale is the embodiment of this beauty. She is naive, believes in the love of young people, and is willing to help him get love, even at the expense of her own life. "Whose life is not precious? It is a pleasure to sit in the green forest and watch the sun in the golden cart and the moon flying in the white beads. The taste of hawthorn flowers is really fragrant, and the bell flowers in the valley and the weeds on the hillside are really beautiful. However, love is more precious than life. How can a bird's heart be compared with a man's? " When the nightingale died for the love of young people, the attitude of young people was like this-"The nightingale does have some gestures. This is undeniable; But does she have feelings? I'm afraid not. Like many artists, she is full of ritual and insincere. She won't sacrifice for others. All she thinks about is music, but who doesn't know that art is for herself? Although we admit that she has an intoxicating singing voice, it is a pity that that kind of singing is meaningless and useless. " Then he went back to the cabin to miss his sweetheart and fell asleep.
How hypocritical and cowardly this young man is! He dare not pursue his own love, and he is unwilling to work hard for it. If the nightingale had known the true face of this young man, would she have sacrificed for him? I think so, too. She died for her ideal love. At the moment of her death, she was satisfied and happy, which is enough.
The world is realistic, so many people's hearts are getting harder and harder. They don't want to believe that there will be truth, goodness and beauty in the world, and always look at people with suspicious colored glasses. At this time, the role of "nightingale" is needed. You look at it and think, how could she be so stupid! But I will still be moved by her sacrifice and pure ideal, and even shed tears for her. I think that's enough.
Joy and sadness, ugliness and beauty, nothing can be handled better than Wilde. He wrote down these fairy tales gently, and then tore up the "most beautiful" for us to see.