Showing results for "Wild Roses" in Short Stories

World-renowned pianist Gloria Banderas is at the height of her career when a curious ailment forces her to cancel a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall. The same day, she befriends one of the many free-spirited artists inhabiting the warren of apartments above the theater. With her career and marriage at a standstill, Gloria moves into an empty studio and convalesces among the poets, photographers, and dancers who eke out a living with total dedication to their art. As a return to her old routine beckons, Gloria must decide which parts of her life are worth fighting for.

What would you give for love if it meant everything? In Oscar Wilde’s classic short story, "The Nightingale and the Rose", a devoted nightingale gives everything to create the perfect red rose for a young student longing to win the heart of his beloved. As the bird pours her life into the flower, Wilde explores the soaring heights of selfless love, the pain of sacrifice, and the harsh, often cruel, realities of human desire.

This is a fable about real and fake love, with a typically Wildean twist.

The Nightingale & The Rose is one of Oscar Wilde’s most poignant short stories. A nightingale overhears a student lamenting that he hasn’t a red rose to give to his true love, so she sets out to find a rose, but must sacrifice a great deal to get it. The Nightingale & The Rose was first published in The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888.

This short fable is a testament to believing in something enough to die for your belief. In this case, the belief rested in the heart of a nightingale. To the bird, true love is worth more than philosophy, wisdom, and even life.

A nightingale finds a young, romantic student in tears because he cannot find a red rose for his beautiful ball partner. There are no red roses in the garden. The nightingale visits all the rose trees in the area, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.