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The Happy Prince

by Oscar Wilde

The statue of the Happy Prince asks a swallow to help the poor.

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Original language: EnglishLevel: Beginner3,587 characters · ≈ 6 minSource: Project Gutenberg

Opening lines

HIGH above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright 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 Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”

“I am glad there is some one…

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About the book

The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of five bedtime stories by Oscar Wilde, first published in May 1888, including "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," and "The Selfish Giant." The stories are valued for their morals and are regarded as classics of children's literature.

About the author

Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet and playwright, and a key figure in the late 19th-century Aestheticism movement. He is best known for his Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), his epigrams, plays and bedtime stories for children.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: The Happy Prince (story) (CC BY-SA)

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

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