Question

Why was the nightingale startled in the poem 'frog and the nightingale'?

Answer 1

The frog was very cunning and he introduced himself as the owner of the tree, on which the nightingale sang. He also boasted that he was a music critic, who wrote for ‘Bog Trumpet’. The nightingale was impressed that a musician like Mozart was taking interest in her. When the frog offered to train her for a modest fee, the nightingale felt that her dream had come true. The exploitation of the nightingale began. The frog would organise musical concerts and mint money. He would make the nightingale practice even in adverse weather. He instructed her to sing passionately and with full force, since that was what the public wanted. Initially a number of creatures flocked to listen to her, but later the crowd dwindled because the nightingale’s songs became routine, lusterless and her voice was tired. The frog would scold and humiliate her for no reason. One day, out of sheer stress and fatigue, the nightingale’s vein burst and she died.

The frog called the nightingale ‘stupid’, ‘nervous’ and ‘without originality’. His ego was satisfied and he again became the ‘unrivalled singer’ of the bog.