THE HAPPY PRINCE
High above the city, on a tall n, stood the statue of the
Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine
gold, for eyes he had twht 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 cillors who wished to
gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; "only not quite so
useful," he added, feari people should think him
unpractical, which he really was not.
"Why t you be like the Happy Prince?" asked a sensible mother
of her little boy who was g for the moon. "The Happy Prince
never dreams 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
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 e to the
point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round
and rououg the water with his wings, and making silver
ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the
summer.
"It is a ridiculous attat," twittered the other Swallows; "she
has no money, and far too maions"; and ihe river was
quite full of Reeds. Then, wheumn came they all flew
away.
After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-
love. "She has no versation," he said, "and I am afraid that
she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind." And
certainly, whehe wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful
curtseys. "I admit that she is domestic," he tinued, "but I
love travelling, and my wife, sequently, should love travelling
also."
"Will you e 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 oall n.
"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 utting
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