There stood a bronze statue of a Happy a Prince in the heart of the city. The figure was inlaid with gold. The eyes were made of sapphires. A large ruby was studded in the sword.
One night, a little swallow flew over the city. He was looking for a place to sleep. He saw the statue of the Happy Prince. He flew down to take rest between the feet of the Happy Prince. Suddenly a drop of water fell upon his face. He saw that the statue of Prince was there crying. Swallow asked the prince, “Who are you?” The Happy Prince replied, “I am the Happy Prince” Swallow again asked him, “Why are you crying?”
Happy Prince answered, “When I was alive, I did not see any hardship or sorrow. When I was dead, they placed my statue at this place from where I can see the misery of the city. I wish to help the people but I cannot move from my place. All this makes me cry. I am going to tell you about some people who are in trouble.
One of them is a poor woman. Her son is ill. She has no money to buy fruits or medicines. O sweet swallow! Take the ruby out of my sword
and give it to the poor woman.’
The swallow agreed to do this. He flew to the poor woman’s house and dropped the ruby into her room and flew back to the Happy Prince. He said to the Happy Prince, “I have done done the work assigned to me. Although it is cold; yet I feel the warmth of pleasure” The swallow slept there between the feet of the Happy Prince.
Next night the Happy Prince told the swallow about the noble writer who was weak and hungry. He said to the swallow, “It is very cold. The poor writer has no fire. He is trying to finish a book but he cannot write because of cold and hunger. Please take the sapphire out of my one eye and throw it into his house.
The swallow did as the Happy Prince had asked him to do. The writer sold the sapphire and bought food to eat and fuel to burn. Thus, he finished the book easily. The swallow spent the day in the city and at night again came to sleep between the feet of the Happy Prince.
The Happy Prince told the swallow to give the sapphire of his other eye to a poor girl, who was crying in the nearby lane. The Happy Prince requested the swallow to give outer layers gold, little by little, to poor people. The swallow did as the Happy Prince asked him to do, for many days.
At last the Happy Prince became dull and grey and the poor swallow got cold and became weak. One day the swallow fell dead at the Happy Prince’s feet. At this the lead heart of the Prince broke too.
The Mayor of the city passed by and looked at the statue. He said, “Once this statue was very beautiful. Now it has become very ugly. He ordered his men to pull down the statue and throw away the dead body of the swallow. The workers pulled down the statue. They melted it but the heart of the Prince did not melt. They threw it, where the dead swallow was lying.
God was much pleased by the sympathy of the Prince and service of the swallow. He said to one of the angels, “Bring me the heart of Prince and the dead body of the swallow. They will live in heaven’