The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
And the people did as he commanded them, and in the corner of the Field of the Fullers, where no sweet herbs grew, they dug a deep pit, and laid the dead things within it.
And when the third year was over, and on a day that was a holy day, the Priest went up to the chapel, that he might show to the people the wounds of the Lord, and speak to them about the wrath of God.
And when he had robed himself with his robes, and entered in and bowed himself before the altar, he saw that the altar was covered with strange flowers that never had been seen before. Strange were they to look at, and of curious beauty, and their beauty troubled him, and their odour was sweet in his nostrils, and he felt glad, and understood not why he was glad.
And after that he had opened the tabernacle, and incensed the monstrance that was in it, and shown the fair wafer to the people, and hid it again behind the veil of veils, he began to speak to the people, desiring to speak to them of the wrath of God. But the beauty of the white flowers troubled him, and their odour was sweet in his nostrils, and there came another word into his lips, and he spake not of the wrath of God, but of the God whose name is Love. And why he so spake, he knew not.
And when he had finished his word the people wept, and the Priest went back to the sacristy, and his eyes were full of tears. And the deacons came in and began to unrobe him, and took from him the alb and the girdle, the maniple and the stole. And he stood as one in a dream.
And after that they had unrobed him, he looked at them and said, ‘What are the flowers, that stand on the altar, and whence do they come?’
And they answered him, ‘What flowers they are we cannot tell, but they come from the corner of the Fullers’ Field.’ And the Priest trembled, and returned to his own house and prayed.
And in the morning, while it was still dawn, he went forth with the monks and the musicians, and the candle-bearers and the swingers of censers, and a great company, and came to the shore of the sea, and blessed the sea, and all the wild things that are in it. The Fauns also he blessed, and the little things that dance in the woodland, and the bright-eyed things that peer through the leaves. All the things in God’s world he blessed, and the people were filled with joy and wonder. Yet never again in the corner of the Fullers’ Field grew flowers of any kind, but the field remained barren even as before. Nor came the Sea-folk into the bay as they had been wont to do, for they went to another part of the sea.
PUFFIN CLASSICS
THE HAPPY PRINCE
AND OTHER STORIES
With Puffin Classics, the adventure isn’t
over when you reach the final page.
Want to discover more about your favourite
characters, their creators and their worlds?
Read on…
CONTENTS
AUTHOR FILE
DID YOU KNOW…?
WHO’S WHO IN THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER STORIES
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT…
SOME THINGS TO DO…
GLOSSARY
AUTHOR FILE
NAME: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde
BORN: 16 October 1854
DIED: 30 November 1900
NATIONALITY: Irish
LIVED: in Dublin, Oxford, London and Paris
MARRIED: to Constance Lloyd in 1884
CHILDREN: two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan
What was he like?
Oscar Wilde was flamboyant, eccentric, daring, clever and very imaginative. He was one of the most famous and notorious celebrities of the late nineteenth century, well known for his witty remarks and his extravagant lifestyle. Believing in ‘art for art’s sake’, Oscar loved beautiful things and was often pictured holding a single flower. It was his flamboyant way of dressing and the fact that, unlike most other Victorian men, he wore his hair long that first made him famous. But by the late 1880s his books and plays began to gain him recognition too.
Where did he grow up?
Oscar was born in Dublin and lived in a fashionable part of the Irish capital with his brother Willie, sister Isola and his parents. His father was a surgeon and his mother an author and poet. Oscar was taught at home until the age of nine, when he was sent to a boys’ boarding school in Enniskillen. He spent the summer holidays with his family in rural Ireland.
What did he do apart from writing books?
A brilliant student, Oscar studied Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, and won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with the highest possible marks. His father’s inheritance was enough to fund his extravagant lifestyle for a time, but when he ran out of money he went on a hugely successful lecture tour of the USA. Before his writing career took off he also wrote reviews for a London newspaper called the Pall Mall Gazette and edited a women’s magazine.
Where did Oscar get the idea for The Happy Prince and Other Stories?
The fairy tales in this collection were first told as bedtime stories to Oscar’s two sons. Vyvyan, his youngest son, wrote about how, when his father was tired of playing with him and his brother Cyril, he would keep them quiet by telling them fairy stories. When Cyril asked his father why he had tears in his eyes when he told them the story of the Selfish Giant, Oscar replied that ‘really beautiful things always made [him] cry’.
What did people think of The Happy Prince and Other Stories when it was first published?
This book was originally published in two collections: The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1892). Most people liked The Happy Prince and some critics absolutely adored it. There were mixed reviews for A House of Pomegranates, although the last story in the collection, ‘The Fisherman and his Soul’, was described by one reviewer as the best thing Oscar had written.
What other books did he write?
As well as writing short stories, Oscar was a playwright, a poet and a novelist. In 1890 an American publisher commissioned Oscar Wilde to write a novel and he produced The Picture of Dorian Gray. It tells the story of a young man who sells his soul in exchange for youth and beauty. Instead of ageing himself, Dorian Gray’s portrait grows old and corrupt while he remains young and beautiful. Although many Victorians complained that the book was immoral, it has since become a classic. He wrote poetry too, but Oscar Wilde is perhaps best known as a playwright. His final play, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), was a comedy that poked fun at Victorian society. With countless later stage productions and three film versions made in the twentieth century, it has proven to be his most successful work.
DID YOU KNOW…?
According to Oscar Wilde…
* ‘There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.’
* ‘To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.’
* ‘What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.’
* ‘Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.’
* ‘A man cannot be too careful in his choice of enemies.’
In 1895 Oscar Wilde was involved in one of the most notorious court cases in British legal history. He was accused by the Marquess of Queensberry of being a homosexual (which was illegal at that time). Oscar Wilde denied this and took Queensberry to court so as to clear his name. But he lost the case. The sentence was two years’ hard labour, which Oscar served at Reading Gaol. On his release, bankruptcy forced him to flee to Paris, where he wrote one last work, a critically acclaimed poem entitled The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898). But prison had ruined his health and he died soon after of cerebral meningitis at the age of forty-six. Shortly before his death he told a friend, ‘I have put my genius into my life and only my talent into my work.’
The Nightingale and the Rose is also the name of a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. It was first performed in 2007 and is based on Oscar Wilde’s original short story.
A ivory-handled walking cane and a brass inkwell believed to belong to Oscar Wilde were sold
The epitaph on Oscar Wilde’s tomb is an excerpt from The Ballad of Reading Gaol. It reads:
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity’s long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.
WHO’S WHO IN THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER STORIES
The Happy Prince – a golden, bejewelled statue who was once alive with a human heart. He led a happy life, filled with pleasure, beauty and dancing. But now he stands so high above his city that he can see the ugliness and misery that are outside the palace walls.
The Swallow – a bird who stops at the Happy Prince’s feet en route to the Pyramids in Egypt. He grows to love the Prince so much that he will do anything he asks.
The Selfish Giant – a giant who wants to keep his own lovely garden just for himself. No one else may play there, not even children.
The Water-rat – a creature who knows of nothing in the world nobler or rarer than devoted friendship. Or does he…?
The Linnet – the wise bird who tells the Water-rat a story about friendship.
Hans – an honest little fellow who would do anything for his friend the Miller.
The Miller – a rich man who would let Hans do anything for him.
The Rocket – a tall, supercilious-looking firework who thinks he is much more remarkable than any of the other fireworks.
The Student – a young student of philosophy who seeks a red rose with which to win the heart of a professor’s daughter.
The Nightingale – a selfless bird who decides that love is more precious than emeralds and dearer than fine opals.
The Rose-tree – a tree that usually grows beautiful red roses, but this year has none because of the harsh winter.
The young King – the old King’s heir, he has a passion for beauty.
The Infanta – a Spanish princess whose birthday party is a matter of great importance to the whole country and is celebrated by everyone.
The Dwarf – a lovable yet hideously ugly creature who dances for the Infanta and is delighted to make her laugh.
The Star-Child – a little child that is found in a forest on a bitterly cold, snowy night, wrapped in a cloak of gold tissue and wearing a chain of amber.
The Fisherman – a fisherman who falls deeply in love with a mermaid and will do anything to be with her.
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT…
Oscar Wilde doesn’t say where ‘The Happy Prince’ is set. Do you think it’s an imaginary city or a real one? And if you think it’s a real city, which one is it?
In ‘The Selfish Giant’, Oscar Wilde refers to the Snow, the North Wind and the Hail as if they are human. Does this make them seem more real?
The author does not spell out the moral of the Linnet’s tale in ‘The Devoted Friend’ but leaves it up to readers to decide. What do you think the moral is?
Did you feel at all sorry for the Remarkable Rocket?
Oscar Wilde had a habit of killing off his characters, such as the poor, selfless Nightingale. Do you think ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ would have been as powerful a tale if she had lived?
Did you notice any similarities between ‘The Young King’ and ‘The Star-Child’? Look closely at the way they are written, the storylines and the main characters of each fairy tale.
The following excerpt is from page 105 of ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’: ‘[The Birds] did not understand a single word of what he was saying, but that made no matter, for they put their heads on one side, and looked wise, which is quite as good as understanding a thing, and very much easier.’ What do you think the author is really trying to say? And do you think Oscar Wilde based his characters on people he met?
In ‘The Fisherman and his Soul’, the Fisherman’s Soul goes on three amazing and terrible adventures. Three is a popular number in fairy tales. Can you think of any other fairy tales in which something happens three times?
You won’t find the phrase ‘and they lived happily ever after’ at the end of any of these fairy tales. Starting with ‘The Happy Prince’, look at the stories in this collection and decide whether their endings are happy or sad. Was it difficult to make up your mind?
SOME THINGS TO DO…
Draw two pictures of the Happy Prince, showing him before and after he meets his dear friend, the Swallow. One picture could show the statue in all its golden, bejewelled glory; the other picture when he is dull and grey. Which picture do you prefer, and why?
Why not write your own fairy tale in the style of Oscar Wilde? Like the author of ‘The Remarkable Rocket’, you can choose anything at all to star in your story – even fireworks! Try to put in your own witty phrases, like Oscar. For example: ‘She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it becomes true in the end.’ (p. 43)
Go and watch one of Oscar Wilde’s plays! If there aren’t any stage productions nearby, look out for the DVD of The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon and Dame Judi Dench, or A Good Woman (2004), which is an adaptation of Lady Windermere’s Fan starring Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson.
GLOSSARY
agate – a hard type of rock that is stripy in appearance
ague – malaria or another fever that makes the patient shiver and burn up
anodyne – something that is unlikely to upset anyone, but is also a little dull
artificer – a forger
Aurora Borealis – the coloured lights that stream across the sky close to the magnetic North Pole
avarice – extreme greed for money
beryl – a see-through mineral, usually green, blue or yellow
bier – a stand for a coffin before burial
bourgeon – to grow
burgomaster – a mayor
carbuncle – a bulbous spot
carlot – a peasant
cope – a loose cloak worn by a priest
cumbrous – unwieldy
glee-club – a choir that specializes in singing short songs
gyves – chains or shackles that are fastened round a prisoner’s ankles to restrain him
halbert – a combined spear and battleaxe
hidalgo – a Spanish gentleman or nobleman
ibises – stork-like birds with long, thin downward-curved bills
indiarubber – natural rubber, made from the sap of trees and used to make many things, including erasers
infanta – a daughter of a Spanish or Portuguese monarch who was not heir to the throne
jennet – a type of small Spanish horse
lapis-lazuli – a bright blue semi-precious stone, often used in jewellery
leman – a sweetheart
linnet – a brown and grey finch with a red breast
monstrance – an open dish used in a holy ceremony
moue – a pout
nautilus – a type of sea creature with a spiral shell
obeisance – when someone shows respect, for example by bowing
ornithology – the study of birds
palanquin – a small covered carriage carried on poles by servants
porphyry – a hard type of purple rock speckled with large crystals
raiment – clothing
sards – reddish-brown quartz stones
Siren – a sea nymph in Greek mythology who lured sailors on to dangerous rocks with her beautiful singing
stibium – a soft, grey mineral
sweetmeat – a sweet or other type of sweet treat
targe – a small, light shield
Tartar – an ancient warrior from central Asia
tithe – a tenth
vervain – a plant with small flowers that is used in herbal medicine
zither – a fla
Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Tales
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