ASPIRATION: Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy
Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes
he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his
sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,”
remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for
having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing
lest people should think him unpractical, 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 for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams
of crying for anything.”

“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a
disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.

“He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out
of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white
pinafores.

“How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen
one.”

“Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the
Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not
approve of 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, for 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 made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her,
touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was
his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.

“It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the other Swallows; “she has
no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite
full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.

After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love.
“She has no conversation,” he said, “and I am afraid that she is a
coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.” And certainly,
whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. “I
admit that she is domestic,” he continued, “but I love travelling, and my
wife, consequently, should love travelling also.”

“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 trifling with me,” he cried. “I am off to the Pyramids.
Good-bye!” and he flew away.

All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where
shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.”

Then he saw the statue on the tall column.

“I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of
fresh air.” So he alighted 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 curious thing!” he
cried; “there is not 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 merely her
selfishness.”

Then another drop fell.

“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?” he said; “I
must look for a good chimney-pot,” and he determined 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 weeping then?” asked the Swallow; “you have quite drenched
me.”

“When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not
know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where
sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my
companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great
Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask
what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers
called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be
happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have
set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery
of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot chose but
weep.”

“What! is he not solid gold?” said the Swallow to himself. He was too
polite to make any personal remarks out loud.

“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 seated at a table. Her face is thin and
worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she
is a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-flowers on a satin gown for
the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour to wear at the next
Court-ball. 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, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt? My feet
are fastened to this pedestal and I cannot move.”

“I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up
and down the 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. He is wrapped in yellow linen, and
embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and
his hands are like withered leaves.”

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay
with me for one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and
the mother 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, the miller’s sons,
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 of a family
famous for its agility; but still, it was a mark of disrespect.”

But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry.
“It is 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 picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword, and
flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.

He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were
sculptured. 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 is the power of love!”

“I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball,” she answered;
“I have ordered passion-flowers to be embroidered on it; but the
seamstresses are so lazy.”

He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of
the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews bargaining
with each other, and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he
came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on
his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he
hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble.
Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his
wings. “How cool I feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting better”; and
he sank into a delicious slumber.

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

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

When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath. “What a
remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of Ornithology as he was
passing over the bridge. “A swallow in winter!” And he wrote a long
letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full
of so many words that they could not understand.

“To-night I go to Egypt,” said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at
the prospect. He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time
on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped,
and said to each other, “What a distinguished stranger!” so he enjoyed
himself very much.

When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. “Have you any
commissions for Egypt?” he cried; “I am just starting.”

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay
with me one night longer?”

“I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the Swallow. “To-morrow my friends
will fly up to the Second Cataract. The river-horse couches there among
the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon. All
night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he
utters one cry of joy, and then he is silent. At noon the yellow lions
come down to the water’s edge to drink. They have eyes like green
beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the cataract.”

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “far away across the
city I see a young man in a garret. He is leaning over a desk covered
with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered
violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a
pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a
play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any
more. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.”

“I will wait with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, who really had
a good heart. “Shall I take him another ruby?”

“Alas! I have no ruby now,” said the Prince; “my eyes are all that I
have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of
India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him.
He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish
his play.”

“Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot do that”; and he began to
weep.

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command
you.”

So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew away to the
student’s garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in
the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room. The young man
had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the
bird’s wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying
on the withered violets.

“I am beginning to be appreciated,” he cried; “this is from some great
admirer. Now I can finish my play,” and he looked quite happy.

The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on the mast of
a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the hold
with ropes. “Heave a-hoy!” they shouted as each chest came up. “I am
going to Egypt”! cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon
rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.

“I am come to bid you good-bye,” he cried.

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay
with me one night longer?”

“It is winter,” answered the Swallow, “and the chill snow will soon be
here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm-trees, and the
crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My companions are
building a nest in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves
are watching them, and cooing to each other. 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
shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the
great sea.”

“In the square below,” said the Happy Prince, “there stands a little
match-girl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter, and they are all
spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money,
and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is
bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her, and her father will
not beat her.”

“I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, “but I cannot
pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command
you.”

So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He
swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her
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,
“so I will stay with you always.”

“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.”

“I will stay with you always,” 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 ibises, who
stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and catch gold-fish in their
beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the
desert, and knows everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the
side of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the King
of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and worships a
large crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and
has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who
sail over a big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the
butterflies.

“Dear little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you tell me of marvellous
things, but more marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of
women. There is no Mystery so 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 making merry in
their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He
flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children
looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of 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 Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.

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

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

Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the Happy
Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he
brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they
laughed and played games in the street. “We have bread now!” they cried.

Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets
looked as if they were made of silver, they were so bright and
glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of
the houses, everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore
scarlet caps and skated on the ice.

The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave
the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the
baker’s door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself
warm by flapping his wings.

But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just 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,
for I love you.”

“It is not to Egypt that I am going,” said the Swallow. “I am going to
the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?”

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

At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something
had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two.
It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.

Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in
company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column he looked
up at the statue: “Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!” he said.

“How shabby indeed!” cried the Town 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
golden no longer,” said the Mayor in fact, “he is litttle better than a
beggar!”

“Little better than a beggar,” said the Town Councillors.

“And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!” continued the Mayor. “We
must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die
here.” And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.

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 in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of
the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. “We must
have another statue, of course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of
myself.”

“Of myself,” said each of the Town Councillors, and they quarrelled.
When I last heard of them they were quarrelling still.

“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry.
“This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it
away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap 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 leaden heart and the dead bird.

“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this
little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy
Prince shall praise me.”