The Happy Prince

by Oscar Wilde

High above the city stood the statue of the Happy Prince.

He was covered all over with fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby shone on his sword.

He was very much admired. "He is as beautiful as a sundial," said a town councillor who wanted a reputation for artistic taste; "only not quite so useful," he added, worrying that people would think him impractical, which he really was not.

"Why can't you be like the Happy Prince?" asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying because he wanted the moon. "The Happy Prince never cries for anything."

"I am glad there is someone in the world who is happy," muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.

"He looks just like an angel," said the children as they came along in their scarlet coats and their clean white shirts.

"How do you know?" said the maths teacher. "You've never seen one."

"Ah! But we have, in our dreams," answered the children, and the maths teacher frowned and looked very strict, because he did not believe in children dreaming.

One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, because he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.

"Shall I love you?" said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed bowed. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver waves in the water. This lasted all through the summer.

"It is a ridiculous love," twittered the other Swallows. "She has no money and far too many relations" and, in fact, the river was full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came, the Swallows all flew away.

After they had gone he felt lonely and began to be bored with his lady-love. "She has no conversation," he said, "and I am afraid that she does not truly love me, because she is always flirting with the wind." And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed bowed to him too. "She loves her home," he continued, "but I love travelling, and so my wife should love travelling too."

"Will you come away with me?" he said finally to her. But the Reed shook her head; she was so attached to her home.

"You have been playing with me," he cried. "I'm off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!" and he flew away.

All day long he flew and at night he arrived at the city. "Where shall I stay?" he said. "I hope the town is ready for me."

Then he saw the statue.

"I will stay there," he said. "It's a fine place with plenty of fresh air." So he rested just between the feet of the Happy Prince.

"I have a golden bedroom," he said softly to himself, as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep. But just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. "What a strange thing!" he cried. "There isn't a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed used to like the rain, but that was only her selfishness."

Then another drop fell.

"What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain away?" he said; "I must look for a good chimney," and he decided to fly away.

But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up and saw. Ah! What did he see?

The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.

"Who are you?" he said.

"I am the Happy Prince."

"Why are you crying then?" asked the Swallow. "You have made me very wet."

"When I was alive and had a human heart," answered the statue, "I did not know what tears were because I lived in a palace, where sadness is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my friends in the garden and in the evening I danced. Round the garden there was a very high wall, but I never wanted to ask what was behind it, everything around me was so beautiful. Everyone called me the Happy Prince and I was very happy, if pleasure is happiness. So I lived and so I died. And now that I'm dead they have put me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and although my heart is made of metal, I must cry."

"What! Isn't he solid gold?" said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make personal remarks aloud.

"Far away," continued the statue in a low musical voice, "far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman sitting at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and she has red hands, cut by her needle, because she is sewing. She is sewing flowers on a silk dress for the loveliest of the Queen's friends to wear at the next dance. In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever and is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, won't you take her the ruby out of my sword? My feet are attached and I cannot move."

"They are waiting for me in Egypt," said the Swallow. "My friends are flying up and down the River Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers. Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his painted coffin."

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "won't you stay with me for one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty and the mother is so sad."

"I don't think I like boys," answered the Swallow. "Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, who were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of course – we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come from a family famous for its speed – but still, it was disrespectful."

But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry. "It's very cold here," he said; "but I will stay with you for one night and be your messenger."

"Thank you, little Swallow," said the Prince.

So the Swallow took the great ruby from the Prince's sword, and flew away with it over the roofs of the town.

He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. "How wonderful the stars are," he said to her, "and how wonderful love is!"

"I hope my dress will be ready in time for the dance," she answered; "I have ordered flowers to be sewn on it; but the workers are so lazy."

He passed over the river and saw the lamps on the ships. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was on his bed and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. He flew in and put the ruby on the table beside the woman. Then he flew round the bed, fanning the boy's head with his wings. "How cool I feel," said the boy, "I must be getting better" and he sank into a delicious sleep.

Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince and told him what he had done. "It is strange," he remarked, "but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold."

"That is because you have done something good," said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think and then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.

When day came, he flew down to the river and had a bath. "What a strange thing," said the Professor, as he was passing over the bridge. "A swallow in winter!" And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper. Everyone quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.

"Tonight I go to Egypt," said the Swallow, and he was very happy about it. He would visit all the public monuments. Wherever he went the Sparrows would twitter and say to each other, "What a handsome stranger!" so he would enjoy himself very much.

When the moon rose he flew to the Happy Prince. "Do you want anything from Egypt?" he asked. "I am just starting."

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "won't you stay with me one night longer?"

"They are waiting for me in Egypt," answered the Swallow.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "far away across the city I see a young man in a tiny room. He is sitting at a desk covered with papers and in a vase by his side there is a bunch of withered flowers. His hair is brown and shiny, and his lips are red as apples, and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play for the theatre, but he is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the room, and hunger has made him ill."

"I'll wait with you one more night," said the Swallow, who really had a good heart. "Shall I take him another ruby?"

"I don't have a ruby now," said the Prince. "My eyes are all I have left. They are made of sapphires, which were taken from India a thousand years ago. Take one of them to him. He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and wood and finish his play."

"Dear Prince," said the Swallow, "I cannot do that" and he began to cry.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I tell you."

So the Swallow took out the Prince's eye and flew away to the student's tiny room. It was easy to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. The young man had his head in his hands, so he did not hear the bird's wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered flowers.

"I am beginning to be liked," he said. "This is from an admirer. Now I can finish my play," and he looked happy.

The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on a large ship and watched the sailors pulling big cases. "I am going to Egypt!" said the Swallow, but nobody listened and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.

"I've come to say good-bye," he said.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "won't you stay with me one more night?"

"It is winter," answered the Swallow, "and the cold snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm-trees, and the crocodiles look lazily around them. Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby will be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire will be as blue as the great sea."

"In the square below," said the Happy Prince, "there is a little girl selling matches. She has let her matches fall in the street, and they are wet. Her father will hit her if she does not bring home some money and she is crying. She has no shoes and her little head is bare. Take my other eye and give it to her and her father will not hit her."

"I will stay with you one more night," said the Swallow, "but I cannot take out your eye. You'd be blind then."

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I tell you."

So he took out the Prince's other eye, and flew down with it. He put the jewel into the girl's hand. "What a lovely bit of glass," cried the little girl; and she ran home, laughing.

Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. "You are blind now," he said, " and so I will always stay with you."

"No," said the poor Prince, "you must go away to Egypt."

"I will always stay with you," said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince's feet.

All the next day he sat on the Prince's shoulder, and told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of the red birds, who stand on the River Nile, and catch goldfish; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and knows everything; of the men, who walk slowly by the sides of their camels; and of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree and eats cakes.

"Dear little Swallow," said the Prince, "you tell me of marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything is the sadness of men and of women. There is no mystery as great as misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see there."

So the Swallow flew over the great city and saw the rich enjoying themselves in their beautiful houses, while the poor were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes and saw the white faces of starving children looking out at the black streets. Under a bridge two little boys were lying in one another's arms to try and keep themselves warm. "How hungry we are!" they said. "You must not lie here," shouted the policeman, and they wandered out into the rain.

Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.

"I am covered with gold," said the Prince, "you must take it off, little piece by little piece, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy."

The Swallow took the gold off till the Happy Prince looked dull and grey. He took it to the poor, and the children's faces grew rosier and they laughed and played games in the street. "We have bread now!" they said.

Then the snow came, and after the snow came the ice. The streets looked like they were made of silver, they were so bright and shining; everybody went about in furs, and boys wore scarlet caps and played on the ice.

The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince: he loved him too much. He took the crumbs outside the baker's door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself warm by moving his wings.

But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just enough strength to fly up to the Prince's shoulder once more. "Good-bye, dear Prince!" he murmured, "Will you let me kiss your hand?"

"I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow," said the Prince. "You have stayed too long here; but you must kiss me on the lips, because I love you."

"I am not going to Egypt," said the Swallow. "I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep."

And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.

At that moment a strange noise sounded in the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the metal heart had broken. It certainly was terribly cold.

Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below with the town councillors. As they passed, he looked up at the statue: "How shabby the Happy Prince looks!" he said.

"How shabby!" cried the councillors, who always agreed with the Mayor; and they went up to look at it.

"The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he is no longer golden," said the Mayor. "In fact, he is little better than a beggar!"

"Little better than a beggar," said the councillors.

"And here is a dead bird at his feet!" continued the Mayor. "We really must make a law that birds are not allowed to die here." And a councillor made a note.

So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. "As he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful," said the Art Professor at the University.

Then they melted the statue and the Mayor held a meeting of the councillors to decide what to do with the metal. "We must have another statue, of course," he said, "and it will be a statue of me."

"Of me," said the councillors, and they quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were still quarrelling.

"What a strange thing!" said the workmen. "This broken metal heart will not melt. We must throw it away." So they threw it away with the rubbish where the dead Swallow was also lying.

"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the metal heart and the dead bird.

"You have chosen well," said God, "because in my garden this little bird will sing for ever and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall live."