The statue of the Happy Prince stood high above the city - on top of a tall stone pillar. His body was covered with thin blades of
gold, his eyes were made of bright sapphires, and there was a large, brilliant red gem embedded in the hilt of his sword.
The world was truly envious of him. "He's as pretty as a windsock," said one of the city councillors, who wanted to show that he had artistic tastes,
and then, fearing that people would see him as impractical, which he was, added:
"Just not as practical as a windsock. "
"Why can't you be like the Happy Prince?" A wise mother said to her own little boy
who cried for the moon, "The Happy Prince never even dreamed of crying for things."
"It pleases me that there are such happy people in the world," murmured a dejected hombre as he gazed at the remarkable statue
.
"He looks like an angel," said the children from the orphanage. They were coming out of the church, their cloaks bright red and their bibs clean and white.
"How did you guys know?" The math teacher asked, "It's not like you guys have ever seen what an angel looks like."
"Ah! But we have seen them, in our dreams." The children replied. The math teacher frowned and tensed his face
for he did not approve of children dreaming.
One night a little swallow flew over the city. His friends had flown to Egypt six weeks before,
but he had stayed behind, for he was too much in love with the beautiful, beautiful Miss Reed. He met her in the early spring, when
he was going down the river in pursuit of a large yellow moth. Fascinated by her slender waist, he stopped to talk to her.
"Can I love you?" Swallow asked, he liked to get to the point at once. The reeds bent down to him, and
he flew round and round her, and caressed the water with his feathered wings in silvery ripples. This is the swallow's way of courting
and he carried on like this all summer.
"This kind of love affair is ridiculous," said the other swallows, eating and laughing, "she has neither money nor so many relatives."
And indeed, the river was full of reeds.
When fall came, the swallows flew away.
With the group gone, he felt lonely and began to hate his lover. "She can't talk," he said, "and besides
I'm afraid she's a slut, you see she's always flirting with the wind." This was not true; once the wind had risen, the reeds performed their most graceful curtsies
on their knees. "I admit that she is a homebody," continued Swallow, "but I love to travel, and my wife, of course
could love to travel as well."
"Will you come with me?" He asked at last. Yet Reed shook her head, she was too sad to leave her home.
"So you're messing with me," he growled, "I'm going to the pyramids, see you later!" With that he flew away
.
He flew all day and came to the city at night. "Where am I going to spend the night?" He said, "I hope the city
is ready."
Then he saw the statue on the tall column.
"I will spend the night there," he said aloud, "it is a good place, full of fresh air." And so he landed his nest between
The Happy Prince's feet.
"I have a bedroom made of gold," he whispered to himself after looking around, and with that he prepared to fall asleep. But just as he
put his head under his feathered wings, a large droplet of water fell on him. "That was incredible!" He shouted up
"There isn't a cloud in the sky, the stars are clear and bright, and yet it's raining. Scandinavian weather is horrible. Reed
is fond of rain, but that's just her being selfish."
Another drop fell immediately afterward.
"What good is a statue if it can't even keep out the rain?" He said, "I'll have to find a good chimney for a nest."
He decided to fly away from here.
But before he could spread his feathers, a third drop fell, and he looked up and saw - ah! He saw
What?
The Happy Prince's eyes filled with tears, and teardrops trickled down his golden cheeks. The prince's face was beautiful
in the moonlight, and Little Swallow felt compassion.
"Who are you?" He asked the other man.
"I am the Happy Prince."
"Then why are you crying?" Swallow asked again, "You got me all wet."
"Formerly, when I had a human heart and lived," spoke the statue, "I did not know what tears were,
for then I lived in the palace of the King of the Promised Land, a place where sorrow could not enter. By day the people accompanied me in the gardens
to play, and at night I led the dances in the halls. Along the gardens was a high wall, but I never thought to go over the wall to find
something, everything around me was too good to be true. My servants called me the Prince of Pleasure, and indeed, if pleasure is pleasure
I was happy. That is how I lived, and that is how I died. And now that I am dead, and they have set me up here so high
that I can see all the ugliness and poverty of my own city, and though my heart is made of lead, I can't help
crying."
"Ah! is he not a golden statue of iron heart?" Swallow said to himself. He was too polite to speak aloud about other people's
private affairs.
"Far away," the statue continued in a low, melodious voice, "far down a side street lives a poor family. A
window was open, and through it I could see a woman sitting at a table. Her thin face was covered with weariness, and her rough, hairy
red hands were strewn with the eyes of needles, for she was a seamstress. She was embroidering passion flowers on a satin dress, which the Empress's favorite
courtmaid was going to wear to the next court ball. On a bed in the corner of the room lay her sick child. The child
was running a fever and clamoring for oranges. His mother gave him nothing but a few mouthfuls of river water, so the child kept crying
without stopping. Swallow, swallow, little swallow, will you remove the ruby from the hilt of my sword and give it to her? My feet are fastened to
this pedestal and I cannot move."
"My companions are waiting for me in Egypt," said the Swallow, "and they are flying over the Nile, talking to the great lotus flowers
and will soon be spending the night in the tomb of the great Pharaoh. Pharaoh himself was sleeping in his own colorful coffin. His body was
wrapped in yellow linen and filled with embalming spices. A necklace of light green emeralds was tied around his neck, and his hands
looked like withered leaves."
"Swallow, swallow, little swallow," the prince added, "won't you spend the night with me and be my messenger? The boy
is so hungry that his mother is grieved."
"I don't think I like children," replied the Swallow; "last summer I went to a river, and there were two naughty
children, the miller's sons, who were always throwing stones at me. Of course, they could never hit me, we swallows
fly so fast, and besides, I come from a family famous for its quickness; but at any rate, it was impolite
behavior."
But the Happy Prince's sad face called to Swallow's heart. "It is too cold here," he said, "but I
would like to spend the night with you and be your messenger."
"Thank you, little swallow," said the prince.
So the swallow took the great ruby from the prince's sword, and carrying it in his beak, he flew over the roofs of one house after another in the city
and away into the distance.
He flew over the top of the tower of the cathedral and saw the statue of an angel carved in white marble above. He flew over the royal palace and heard the sound of dancing
songs. A beautiful girl walked up to the rooftop with her sweetheart. "What marvelous stars," he said to her,
"What wonderful love3"
"I hope my dress will be ready in time for the grand ball. " she replied, "I have asked for passion flower
flowers to be embroidered, only the seamstresses are too much."
He flew over the river and saw the countless lanterns hanging high on the masts of the ships. He flew over the ghetto and saw the old Jewish people doing business by
bargaining with one another and weighing their coins on brass scales. At last he came to the poor man's house
and looked in. The feverish child was tossing and turning in his bed, and the mother was asleep, for she was too tired. He jumped into the house and placed the large ruby on the table beside the woman's thimble. He then flew gently around the bed again, fanning the child's forehead with his feathered
wings. "I feel so cool," said the child, "I must be getting better." And with that he sank
into sweet dreams.
Then the swallow returned to the Happy Prince and told him all that he had done. "Do you think it is strange," he went on
saying, "that I feel so warm now, though it is very cold."
"That is because you have done a good thing," said the prince. So Little Swallow began to think about the prince's words, but it was not long before he fell
to sleep. For him, when he thought about things, he always wanted to be sleepy.
At dawn he flew down to the river and took a bath. "What an incredible phenomenon," a professor of ornithology spoke up as he walked over the bridge
"to have swallows in winter!" So he wrote a long letter to the local newspaper about it. Everyone
quoted from his letter, even though many of the words were incomprehensible.
"I am going to Egypt to-night," said Swallow, and the thought of a far-off land lifted his spirits. He visited all the public
***monuments in the city, and sat for some time on the tops of the churches. At every place, the sparrows squeaked and chattered to each other, saying, "What a
rare and valuable guest!" So he had a good time.
When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. "Did you have something to do in Egypt?" He asked
in a loud voice, "I'm about to move."
"Swallow, swallow, little swallow," said the prince, "will you stay with me another night?"
"My companions are waiting for me in Egypt," replied the swallow, "and to-morrow my friends will fly to the second waterfall, where the river
The horse spent the night in the papyrus thicket. The ancient Egyptian god Mennon sat enthroned on a huge granite throne, and all night long he watched the stars, and every
time they twinkled he gave a joyful cry, and then fell silent. At noon the yellow lions descended to the
river to drink; their eyes were like green jewels, and they roared louder than the roar of a waterfall." "Swallow, swallow,
Swallow," said the prince, "far away at that end of the city I saw a young man who lived in an attic. He was buried in study on a
paper-covered desk, with a bunch of dried violets in a glass beside him. He had curly brown
hair, lips as red as pomegranates, and he had large, sleepy eyes. He was trying to write a play for the theater manager,
but he had given in to the cold. There was no wood in the fireplace and hunger had made him dizzy."
"I would spend another night with you," said Swallow, who did have a kind heart. "Shall I give him another ruby
stone?"
"Alas! I have no ruby now." The prince said, "All that remains are my eyes. They are made of rare sapphires
that came out of India a dry years ago. Remove one and send it to him. He'll sell it to a jeweler so he can buy back food
and firewood to finish the script he's writing."
"Dear Prince," said the Swallow, "I can't do that," and cried out.
"Swallow, swallow, little swallow," said the prince, "do just as I say."
So the swallow took one of the prince's eyes and flew toward the attic where the student lived. As there was a hole in the roof, the swallow
got in easily. In this way the swallow came through the hole to the house. The young man, with his hands over his face, did not hear the flapping of the swallow's wings
and when he looked up, he was seeing the beautiful sapphire resting on top of the dried violet.
"I am beginning to be appreciated," he cried, "and this must be from some one who admires me exceedingly. Now I can finish
my script." A happy smile spread across his face.
The next day Swallow flew down to the harbor below, where he sat on the mast of a great ship of vibration and watched the sailors hauling the great chests
out of the hold with ropes. With them hey yo! Hey yo!" The sound of the horn, one by one, the large crates were hauled up. "I'm going to Egypt
now!" Swallow said slightly, but no one paid him any attention. When the moon rose, he flew back to the Happy Prince.
"I've come to say goodbye," he called.
"Swallow, swallow, little swallow," said the prince, "won't you spend another night with me?"
"Winter is here," replied the swallow, "and the cold snow is coming. In Egypt, on the other hand, the sun hangs warm over the green palm trees
and there are crocodiles lying in muddy ponds lazily looking around. My friends were building their nests in the temple in the ancient city of Baalbek, and the pink and silver-white pigeons were watching them work and talking to each other.
Dear Prince, I have to leave you, only I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two
beautiful jewels to make up for the western one you lost by giving it to someone else, and the ruby will be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire
blueer than the sea."
"In the square below," said the Happy Prince, "stood a little girl selling matches. All her matches have fallen in the gutter
and they don't work. Her father will beat her if she doesn't bring money home, and she is crying. She has neither
shoes nor socks on, and nothing on her head. Please take off my other eye and give it to her so her father
won't beat her."
"I will stay with you another night," said Swallow, "but I cannot remove your eye, or you will become blind
."
"Swallow, swallow, little swallow," said the prince, "just do as I say."
The son was he took the prince's other eye and flew downward with it. All at once he landed in front of the little girl and placed
the jewel quietly in the palm of her hand. "What a beautiful piece of glass!" The little girl exclaimed, as she ran towards home
with a smile on her face.
At that moment, Swallow returned to the prince. "You are blind now," said the swallow, "and I will stay with you forever."
"No, little swallow," said the poor prince, "you must go to Egypt."
"I am going to stay with you always," said the swallow, and slept at the prince's feet.
The next day he sat on the prince's shoulder all day and told him about what he had seen and heard and all the experiences he had had in the foreign land. He also
told the prince of the red herons, which stood in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and caught the golden
fish with their sharp beaks; and of the Sphinx, which was as old as the world, and dwelt in the deserts, and knew all things that were in the world; and of the traders of Newana, who traveled slowly along with their own camel caravans, and stroked in their hands rosary beads made of wolf's smelt; He spoke of the King of the Moon Mountain, whose skin was as black as ebony, and who worshipped a great crystal; he spoke of the great green mangled serpent that slept in the palm-bane tree, and required twenty monks to feed it with cakes made of honey; and he spoke of the dwarfs, who traversed the lakes in great flat leaves, and
were always at war with the butterflies. "
"Dear Swallow," said the Prince, "you have told me so many strange things, but even stranger still are the sufferings of the
men and women. There is nothing more incredible than suffering. Swallow, just go and fly in a circle over my city
and tell me what you see up there." ,
So the swallow flew over the city and saw the rich people having fun in their beautiful townhouses, while the beggars sat
at the gates starving. He flew into the dark alleys and saw hungry children with pale faces staring listlessly into the dimly lit
dark streets, and just inside the hole of a bridge two children wrapped their arms around each other and tried to keep each other warm. "We're so hungry
Yeah!" They said. "You're not allowed to lie here," the guard sighed loudly, and the two children trudged off into the rain again.
Then he flew back and told the prince what he had seen.
"I am plastered all over with pieces of fine gold," said the prince, "and you take them off piece by piece and send them to my poor people
. Those who live believe that gold will make them happy."
The swallow pecked off the leaves of gold from the footbath, one by one, until the happy prince became gray and dull. And he gave each of these
pure gold leaves to the poor, and the children's faces flushed, and they played games in the street with great joy.
"We have bread now!" The children shouted.
Snow then fell, and after the white snow came the bitter cold. The streets looked white as silver, bright and
bright; long icicles hung under the eaves like swords made of crystal. Everyone was dressed in leather, and the children wore
red hats to skate outdoors.
The poor little swallow felt colder and colder, but he did not want to leave the prince, whom he loved too much. He had to get some bread crumbs from the baker's door when the baker was not looking, and fluttered his wings to keep himself warm.
At last, however, he knew he was going to die. He had only enough strength left to fly over the prince's shoulder one more time. "Farewell
And farewell, dear prince!" He murmured, "Will you re-let me kiss your hand?"
"I'm so glad you're flying off to Egypt at last, little swallow," the prince said, "You've been here too long. But
you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you."
"It is not Egypt where I am going," said the swallow, "I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of the long sleep, is it not
?"
Then he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell at his feet and died.
Just then, a peculiar popping sound stuck out from within the statue, as if something had broken. It was in fact the prince's
heart made of lead that had cracked in two. It was indeed a terribly cold winter's day,
The next morning the mayor, accompanied by the city senators, strolled down to the square below. As they walked past the columns, the mayor
looked up at the statue, "My goodness! Why is the Happy Prince so ugly!" He said.
"It's so ugly!" The city senators shouted in unison, they usually always had the same accent as the mayor. After saying that everyone
went up to get a closer look.
"The ruby has fallen off the hilt of his sword, the sapphire eye is gone, and he's no longer of gold," the mayor
said, "In fact, he's no better than a beggar asking for food!"
"Indeed not much better than a beggar for food," the city senators agreed.
"And there's a dead bird lying at his feet!" The mayor continued, "We really ought to issue a proclamation forbidding birds
to die in this place." So the city clerk put the suggestion on the record.
Then they toppled the statue of the Happy Prince. "Since he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful
," said the university's art professor.
Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the mayor called a city meeting to decide what to do with the metal
and, of course, we had to cast another statue." He said, "That would be my statue."
"My statue," every city senator argued, and they argued. When I last heard people talking about them
their bickering was still going on.
"What a rarity!" The foreman of the statue factory said, "This cracked lead heart won't melt in the furnace. We
had to throw it away." So they threw it into the garbage, and the dead swallow lay there.
"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," God said to one of his angels. So the angel brought God back the lead heart
and the dead bird.
"You have made the right choice," said God, "for here in my heavenly garden the birds can sing their songs
forever, and here in my golden castle the Prince of Joy can praise me to his heart's content."