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Nightingale

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Tereus, King of Thrace, fetched Philomeʹla to visit his wife; but when he reached the “solitudes of Heleas” he dishonoured her, and cut out her tongue that she might not reveal his conduct. Tereus told his wife that Philomela was dead, but Philomela made her story known by weaving it into a peplus, which she sent to her sister, the wife of Tereus, whose name was Procnē. Procnē, out of revenge, cut up her own son and served it to Tereus; but as soon as the king discovered it he pursued his wife, who fled to Philomela, her sister. To put an end to the sad tale, the gods changed all three into birds; Tereus (2 syl.) became the hawk, his wife the swallow, and Philomela the nightingale.

Cambridgeshire nightingales. Edible frogs. Liège and Dutch “nightingales” are edible.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Nicodemused into Nothing
Nicolaitans
Nicolas
Nicor (A)
Nicotine
Nidhögg
Niece
Nifiheim
Night
Nightcap (A)
Nightingale
Nightmare (A)
Nihilists
Nihilo
Nil Admirari
Nil Desperandum
Nile
Nilica or Sephalica
Nimble as a Cat on a hot Bakestone
Nimble as Ninepence
Nimbus

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Philomel or Philomela
Progne or Prokne