The Nightingale and the Rose is a short story by Oscar Wilde about a student who wants to take a professor's daughter to a ball but needs a red rose. A nightingale hears of his plight and sacrifices herself by impaling on a thorn to make a red rose bloom. When the student presents the rose to the girl, she rejects him. The story highlights the purity of true love through the nightingale's selfless act versus mere attraction.