The Happy Prince and Other Tales | Page 4

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