Oscar Wilde 
The Nightingale And the Rose 

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. Seeing the student in tears, and valuing his human life above her bird life, the nightingale carries out the ritual.