The Happy Prince and Other Tales | Page 9

blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out
from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the
children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep.
The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost.
"Spring has forgotten this garden," they cried, "so we will live here all
the year round." The Snow covered up the grass with her great white
cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the
North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs,
and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots
down. "This is a delightful spot," he said, "we must ask the Hail on a
visit." So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the
roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round
and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey,
and his breath was like ice.
"I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming," said the
Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white
garden; "I hope there will be a change in the weather."
But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden
fruit to every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. "He is
too selfish," she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North
Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through
the trees.
One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some
lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be
the King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing
outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in
his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the
world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the North
Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through the
open casement. "I believe the Spring has come at last," said the Giant;
and he jumped out of bed and looked out.
What did he see?
He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the

children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees.
In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees
were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered
themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above
the children's heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with
delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and
laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still winter. It
was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy.
He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree,
and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was
still quite covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was
blowing and roaring above it. "Climb up! little boy," said the Tree, and
it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the boy was too tiny.
And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. "How selfish I have
been!" he said; "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I
will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock
down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for
ever and ever." He was really very sorry for what he had done.
So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went
out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so
frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again.
Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he
did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and
took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree
broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and the
little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant's
neck, and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw that the
Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them
came the Spring. "It is your garden now, little