The Happy Prince and Other Tales | Page 2

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