In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late 'Happy Prince', who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isn't allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.

The master of wit and irony Published here alongside their evocative original illustrations, these fairy tales, as Oscar Wilde himself explained, were written “partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.”

Oscar Wilde, playwright, poet, and man of letters, also wrote some of the most beautiful fairy tales of the Victorian era. This spectacular volume includes the complete tales, luminously illustrated with richly patterned borders accented in gold. Full-color illustrations.

In this new edition, which contains all of Wilde's fairy tales, his rich prose is evoked beautifully with the sumptuous, intricate work of artist Isabelle Brent.

Wilde's tales are adapted into a comic book format and use fairy tale elements and Christian symbolism.

In a town full of suffering, a swallow and a statue of the “Happy Prince” set out to ease the lives of the townspeople. Victorian author Oscar Wilde is known both as a playwright and prose author. Among his most famous works are The Picture of Dorian Gray, his only novel, the plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, and the short story collections Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories and The Happy Prince and Other Stories. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

This book offers an innovative revaluation of Oscar Wilde's two collections of fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). Providing a comprehensive account of Wilde's familiarity with Irish folklore, this study challenges the prevailing consensus that the stories draw heavily on such material. By emphasizing Wilde's own stated views on the subject - and so contesting the assumption that he simply shared the well-documented interests of his parents, Sir William Wilde and Lady Jane Wilde ('Speranza') - the book relocates the stories within a variety of literary, cultural, and narrative traditions, both Irish and European. Acknowledging Wilde's often ambivalent and ambiguous statements about his Irish national identity, Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales: Origins and Contexts offers a more nuanced understanding of the importance of Ireland to Wilde's art. The detailed readings of the fairy tales show that, despite the stories' continuing appeal to children, Wilde intended his fairy tales for a predominantly adult audience. The book also demonstrates the ways in which, despite their eerie and disturbing content, these fairy tales reaffirmed conservative values. *** "This superb analysis...presents a new and persuasive reading of Wilde's fairy tales. .... Highly recommended." - Choice, April 2012 *** "Markey's text is relevant to cultural studies scholars and literary historians of the Victorian era because of the attention to Anglo-Irish and European literary contexts, history, and culture, and the intriguing interpretations of Oscar Wilde's literary fairy tales." - Victorian Studies, Vol. 55, No. 4, Summer 2013~

Arguably the most famous and beloved of Oscar Wilde’s nine fairy tales, this particular rendition stands apart from the others due to its brilliant illustrations by a master of comic art. After dying young, the Happy Prince’s soul inhabits a beautiful ruby-encrusted statue covered in gold leaf which is perched high above the city. But when he sees the poverty, misery and desperateness of his people, he enlists the help of a barn swallow to remove the gilding of his statue and shower the riches on his people. In the spring, the townspeople are saved, but find only a stripped down and dull statue alongside a dead swallow. The remains are tossed into an ash heap, but an emissary of God recognizes their sacrifice, and escorts them into the gardens of Heaven. Perfect for middle school students as an introduction to the world-famous author, the dazzling illustrations in this book suit the timeless writings of Wilde.