The Happy Prince

Introduction

The Happy Prince is written by Oscar Wilde. The story of the happy prince is about the sacrifice of a prince and a bird. The story is the true reflection of a prince who loves his people. It is a story of a prince who was always happy because he never saw sorrow and suffering. When the prince dies his statue was erected on high ground. His statue was made of gold and his eyes were made of sapphires. With all the riches the prince was not happy anymore because he had seen the suffering and sorrow of his people and he tries to make everyone happy and help the needy.

Summary

It is a story about the statue of a happy prince. One day a bird took shelter under the statue. The bird found out that the prince was not happy and asked for the reason. Then the prince replied that when he was alive, he never saw sorrow and suffering and that is why he was called the happy prince. But when he died and his statue was made outside the castle, now he feels the suffering of his poor subjects.

Once he saw a matchgirl who was scared of being beaten by her father, because she accidentally dropped matches in the canal. He told the bird to pluck his second eye and give the sapphire to that girl. The prince then became completely blind and the bird decided to not leave and to live with him and help the poor.

The prince became blind yet he kept helping the poor. The bird obediently plucked the golden leaves from the statue and continuously helped the poor on the instructions of the prince. The statue became dull as all of its gold and sapphires were distributed among the poor. Then come a weary winter which eventually took the life of the swallow bird and it fell near the statue. Seeing this the leaden heart of the prince broke into two. As time passes the statue looked dull and unattractive and thus the city councillors decided to break the statue and melt the statue in the furnace. The whole statue melted but the heart remained the same which was also thrown near the dead swallow.

The god sent an angel to earth and told him to bring the most precious things from the earth and the angel returned with the heart of a prince and the body of a swallow. The god welcomes them both in his garden.

Questions and Answers

Q. Why do the courtiers call the prince ‘the Happy Prince’? Is he really happy?

Ans. The courtiers called the prince “The Happy Prince” because when the prince was alive, he was always happy and never saw any sorrow. In reality, he was not happy anymore because when he was made into a statue and placed at a height, he could see the sorrow, poverty and ugliness of his kingdom.

Q. For whom does the prince send the sapphires and why?

Ans. The prince sends the sapphires to a young writer and a match girl. The prince sends the sapphire to the young writer because he fainted due to cold and hunger, and could not finish his play. The matchgirl had fallen in the gutter and spoilt all the matches. The prince sends sapphire to both of them to solve their problems

Q. What does the swallow see when it flies over the city?

Ans. When the swallow flies over the city, it sees the sharp difference between the lives of the rich and the poor. He sees the rich marrying in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates.

Q. Why did the swallow not leave the prince and go to Egypt?

Ans. The swallow did not leave the prince and go to Egypt because he was touched by the kindness of the prince.

Q. What are the precious things mentioned in the story? Why are they precious?

Ans. The two precious things in the story were the leaden heart of the prince and the bird. The prince gave away all his riches, including his sapphire and gold to help the needy and the bird left his wish to go to Egypt and chose to live with the prince to help the poor

FAQs

Q. Why did God welcome both prince and bird in his garden?

Ans. The god was impressed by the act of kindness done by both the prince and the swallow. They both sacrificed for the goodwill of the poor.

Q. Who got the sapphire of the prince?

Ans. The poor playwright who did not have food and a place to sleep and the matchgirl got the sapphire from the prince

Q. Where was the swallow bird flying?

Ans. The swallow bird was flying to Egypt, but he stopped for helping the happy prince.

Q. Why did the town council remove the statue?

Ans. The statue had lost its jewels and looked dull and pale, so the town council decided to remove the statue.