But the poor fishermen who had heard the real Nightingale said : ` This one sings well enough , the tunes glide out ; but there is something wanting -- I do n't know what ! ' The real Nightingale was banished from the kingdom . The artificial bird was put on silken cushions by the Emperor 's bed , all the presents which it received , gold and precious stones , lay round it , and it was given the title of Imperial Night-singer , First from the left . For the Emperor counted that side as the more distinguished , being the side on which the heart is ; the Emperor 's heart is also on the left . And the bandmaster wrote a work of twenty-five volumes about the artificial bird . It was so learned , long , and so full of the hardest Chinese words that everyone said they had read it and understood it ; for once they had been very stupid about a book , and had been trampled under foot in consequence . So a whole year passed . The Emperor , the Court , and all the Chinese knew every note of the artificial bird 's song by heart . But they liked it all the better for this ; they could even sing with it , and they did . The street boys sang ` Tra-la-la-la-la , and the Emperor sang too sometimes . It was indeed delightful . But one evening , when the artificial bird was singing its best , and the Emperor lay in bed listening to it , something in the bird went crack . Something snapped ! Whir-r-r ! all the wheels ran down and then the music ceased . The Emperor sprang up , and had his physician summoned , but what could HE do ! Then the clockmaker came , and , after a great deal of talking and examining , he put the bird somewhat in order , but he said that it must be very seldom used as the works were nearly worn out , and it was impossible to put in new ones . Here was a calamity ! Only once a year was the artificial bird allowed to sing , and even that was almost too much for it . But then the bandmaster made a little speech full of hard words , saying that it was just as good as before .
And so , of course , it WAS just XXXXX good as before .
So about after as by for in of to with