The Happy Prince

1.0About the Author

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde who was born on 16th October 1854 was an Irish poet and playwright. He became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays. Wilde died of meningitis on 30th November 1900.

2.0Central Idea

This story is about a Prince who was very happy when he was alive. After his death, when a big statue of his was erected on a pedestal, he could see the entire city and realized the miseries of the people. Later, he decides to help them but being a statue, he couldn't help them. So, he needed a messenger. In this story, the representation of the vastness of his heart has been portrayed.

3.0Compassion

The statue of a prince stood on a high platform. This prince was called a Happy Prince because when he was alive, he always remained happy. On his death, his big statue was erected in the middle of the city. This statue was covered with thin layers of gold and instead of eyeballs, there were two sapphire stones. In the handle of his sword, there was a bright ruby stone. Once a swallow was going to Egypt because all his friends had flown away to Egypt six weeks ago. At night the swallow reached the city of the Happy Prince.

So, people started calling him 'Happy Prince'. When he died his statue was erected on a pedestal and he could see the whole city. Then, he realized that there were so many people living in misery lack of food, hunger, money, homelessness. When the Happy Prince was telling his sad story, the swallow was thinking that the statue of the prince was not made of solid gold. It thought that from outside the statue was covered with gold but his heart was made of lead which means that it was hollow and was not made of solid gold.

4.0Sacrifice

The statue started narrating the story of a poor woman saying that far away there was a house of a poor woman and through the open window he could see that she was sitting near the table. Her hands were rough and had become red because they had been pricked by the needle. The woman was a seamstress. She was embroidering flowers on a gown of the Queen's maid who would walk along with the queen during the court ball. He told that the lady had a little child who was suffering from fever and was demanding for oranges. His mother was very poor. She had no money. She could only give him river water thus, the little boy was crying. After narrating the story the Happy Prince's statue requested the swallow to take out the ruby stone from the handle of its sword and give it to the lady as he couldn't go being a statue.

The swallow flew back to the statue of Happy Prince and told him that it felt warm. The prince said that it was feeling warm because it had done a good deed of helping someone. When it was night, the swallow went to Happy Prince and asked for his permission to leave for Egypt. Once again Happy Prince requested it to stay with him for one more night and narrated another story. He said that far away he could see a small dark room, at the top of a house, where a young man is sitting on a desk filled with papers. He had a glass lying near him in which withered flowers were lying. He said that this boy needed to finish a play as he was a writer. He had to give the play to the director after writing. But he did not have the strength to write because he was feeling very cold. The boy had no money to buy wood so there was no fire in his fireplace. The swallow agreed to stay back for one more night. The Happy Prince told him that now he had his eyes which were made of sapphires. He said that the swallow should take out one sapphire and give it to the boy. The swallow denied but the Happy Prince ordered the swallow to do what he had told him to do. So, the swallow took one sapphire and flew to the young man's garret. There was a hole in the roof of the room. The swallow entered the room through that hole. The young man was sitting with his head in his hands thus, he did not hear the flutter of the bird's wing. When he looked up, he saw the sapphire stone lying on the dried flowers. When the young man saw the beautiful, he felt that some admirer had sent a gift for him so that he could finish his play. Next night, the swallow flew back to Happy Prince and bade him a goodbye as he was leaving for Egypt. Once again Happy Prince requested swallow to stay with him. The Happy Prince narrated the story of a little match girl. He said that all her matchsticks had fallen in the gutter (sewage) and got wet. She could not sell them and she would not earn any money. When she would go home without money her father would get angry and beat her. Further, the Happy Prince said that she was not wearing shoes or stockings and she had not covered her head. She was very poor. He told the swallow to take out another sapphire from his eyes and give it to her so that her father didn't beat her. Swallow refused to take out another sapphire saying that he would be blind then. The Happy Prince told swallow to do what he had ordered him.

5.0Friendship

When swallow returned to the Happy Prince, he told him that now he was blind and so, he would stay with him forever. But Happy Prince told the swallow to go. But the swallow refused. The Happy Prince said to the swallow to tell him about the suffering of people. So, the swallow took a round over the city and saw that the rich people were living happily in their beautiful houses while the poor people were begging and sitting outside the gates. Then he went to the dark lanes where he saw two little boys under the archway of the bridge. They were lying much close to each other so that they could keep themselves warm. They were starving. Just then, a watchman scolded them and made them go away from there. The poor children keep wandering in the rain as they were homeless. Swallow went back to Happy Prince and narrated him what he had seen in the city. The Happy Prince told swallow to take tiny pieces of gold from his body and give it to the poor people in need. Slowly, the swallow took out the gold layers from the statue of Happy Prince. Soon, the Happy Prince's statue started looking dull and grey but the poor children grew happier because, through it, they were getting food to eat.

The snow season came. Everyone was wearing clothes made of fur. Small children were skating on the ice. The bird did not want to die, so he used to go to the bakery to eat the breadcrumbs and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings. The swallow was aware that he was about to die. So, he flew back to the statue of Happy Prince and told him that he is leaving. The Happy Prince thought that the swallow was going to Egypt. But the swallow revealed that he was not going to Egypt but to the house of Death. He kissed the Happy Prince on his lips and fell down and died. As soon as the bird died on the Happy Prince's feet, the statue's heart which was made of lead broke into two pieces. The next morning the Mayor of the city along with his councillors came to the place where the statue of Happy Prince was erected. He looked up at it and said that the statue looked untidy. The councillors agreed with the Mayor. The Mayor noticed that the ruby stone which was placed in the handle of the sword was missing, the sapphires from the statue's eyes were also missing and the layer of the gold from its body was also missing. The Mayor said that it seemed as if it was the statue of a beggar. He also noticed that a dead bird was lying on the feet of the statue. He told his councillors to pass an order that birds were not allowed to die on the feet of the statue.

God asked one of his Angels to bring him the two most precious things of the city. The Angel brought the two pieces of heart of the statue and the dead swallow bird. God said to the Angel that it had brought the right thing. It had chosen the right things which were indeed the most precious things of the city. He said that the bird would always sing in the garden of his Paradise and the Happy Prince would stay in his city of gold and admire him.

6.0Recall

• There was a prince. When he was alive, he was a happy person as he lived in the palace and did not know anything about human suffering. Upon his death, his statue was built at the top of a tall column in the city.
• The statue was covered with thin leaves of gold, it had two sapphires in place of eyes and a ruby on his sword-hilt. Since the statue was placed high above the city, the Prince was able to witness all the sorrows and sufferings which the common people faced in their daily life.
• One day a little swallow, who was going to Egypt stopped to spend the night in between the feet of the Happy Prince. It became curious to know from where the drops of water were falling on him. He saw the eyes of the Happy Prince full of tears.
• The bird became ready to assist him in reducing the suffering of the common people. He became the messenger of the Prince.
• He plucked the ruby from the Prince's sword and gave it to the seamstress who had no money to feed her ailing child. Then he plucked a sapphire from one of the eyes of the statue and gave it to the playwright who was too poor to make a fire in his fireplace so that he can continue with his play. He gave another sapphire to a match girl who would have been beaten by her father for letting her matches fall in the gutter.
• The prince, then, was not able to see the sorrows so he instructed the bird to take off the fine gold he was covered with and give it to the poor. The bird followed his words and picked off leaf after leaf of the gold, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey.
• Then the snow season came and the poor little swallow grew colder. But he did not leave the prince. Eventually, he grew weak and died. Just then, the leaden heart of the statue also broke into two pieces. The Town Councillors and the Mayor pulled it down and melted the statue in a furnace but the broken heart did not melt. So, they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead swallow was lying.
• When God asked one of His Angels to bring the two most precious things in the city, the Angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird. God welcomed the two in his garden of Paradise.