The Happy Prince
Oscar Wilde
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Retold by The Legendary Connection
TLC#00146
High above a city, on a tall column, stood a statue of the Happy Prince. The statue was covered in leaves of fine gold, his eyes were made of bright sapphires, and a large red ruby sparkled on the hilt of his sword. Everyone admired the statue.
One night, a little Swallow flew over the city. His friends had all flown to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind because he loved a beautiful Reed. Now, he was on his way to Egypt, and as he passed through the city, he saw the statue of the Happy Prince.
“I’ll rest here for the night,” he said, settling down at the statue’s feet. Just as he was tucking his head under his wing, a large drop of water fell on him. “How odd!” he thought, looking up. The sky was clear, and yet another drop fell.
Then he looked up at the statue’s face and saw tears running down its golden cheeks. “Who are you?” asked the Swallow.
“I am the Happy Prince,” replied the statue.
“Then why are you crying?” asked the Swallow.
“When I was alive,” the Prince said, “I lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. I never knew what sadness was. But now that I am here, high above the city, I can see all the suffering in the world, and though my heart is made of lead, I cannot help but weep.”
The Prince told the Swallow about a poor woman he could see from his place on the column. She was sewing all night to make a dress for one of the Queen’s maids, and her little boy was sick and asking for oranges. She had nothing to give him but river water.
“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you take the ruby from my sword and bring it to her?” asked the Prince. “My feet are fixed to this pedestal, and I cannot move.”
The Swallow wanted to fly to Egypt, but he felt sorry for the Prince. “I’ll stay with you for one night,” he said, taking the ruby from the Prince’s sword and flying across the city. He slipped into the poor woman’s house and left the ruby beside her thimble. Then he flew back to the Prince.
“Thank you, little Swallow,” said the Prince. The next night the Prince asked the swallow if he would fly to Egypt that night. The Prince told the swallow, “Tonight, I can see a young man who is writing a play. He is very cold and too hungry to finish it. Will you take one of my sapphire eyes to him before you fly to Egypt?”
The Swallow didn’t want the Prince to be blind, but the Happy Prince looked so sad that he agreed. He took one of the sapphires from the statue’s eye and flew to the young man’s room, where he left it on the table. The young man was so happy to find the sapphire that he felt inspired to finish his play.
The next night, the Swallow told the Prince he must leave for Egypt. But the Prince asked him to stay one more night and take his other sapphire eye to a poor match-girl who had dropped her matches in the street and was afraid to go home without money. The Swallow did as the Prince asked, and when he returned, he promised to stay with the now-blind statue forever.
Day after day, the Swallow flew over the city, telling the Happy Prince about the rich people who lived in luxury while the poor struggled to survive. Bit by bit, the Swallow took the Prince’s gold leaf covering to the people in need. Soon, the statue looked dull and grey, but the children’s faces in the city glowed with warmth and joy.
Winter came, and the little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he refused to leave the Happy Prince. One last time, he flew up to the Prince’s shoulder. “Goodbye, dear Prince,” he whispered. “Will you let me kiss you?”
“I’m glad you’re finally going to Egypt,” said the Prince, but the Swallow shook his head. “I’m not going to Egypt. I am going to the House of Death, but Death is like a long sleep, isn’t it?”
He kissed the Happy Prince and fell dead at his feet. Just then, a crack sounded from inside the statue, for the Prince’s lead heart had broken in two.
The next morning, the townspeople noticed the dull statue and the dead Swallow at its base. “What a shabby statue!” they said, and they took it down and melted it in a furnace. But the broken lead heart wouldn’t melt, so they threw it onto a dust-heap where the Swallow lay.
In heaven, an angel brought the lead heart and the Swallow to God. “These are the two most precious things in the city,” said the angel.
“You are right,” said God, “in my paradise, the little Swallow will sing forever, and the Happy Prince will live in joy.”
Wilde, Oscar. “The Happy Prince, and Other Tales.” Https://Www.gutenberg.org/Files/902/902-h/902-H.htm, 1 May 1997, gutenberg.org/cache/epub/902/pg902-images.html#chap01. Accessed 26 July 2024.