The story follows a Prince whose statue remains in the town after his death. A swallow rests on the statue and learns that the Prince, though immortalized in gold and jewels, is saddened by the suffering he witnesses in the city. The Prince gives his jewels to the swallow to help the poor, bringing him happiness. When winter comes, the swallow dies at the Prince's feet, breaking his heart. The town leaders destroy the statue but the Prince's broken heart cannot burn and is later found with the dead bird, deemed the most valuable thing in the city.
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The happy prince
1. Once upon a time there was a Prince.
He lived all his life in happiness but when
he died the people built a statue of him.
They made his statue with heavy gold
stones and jewels in his loving memory.
One day a swallow came over the town
and sat down the Prince¡¯s statue. The
swallow was tired so he thought of having
a nap. Suddenly a drop of tear from the
eyes prince wake him up. He became
upset and asked the prince: ¡°What¡¯s
wrong with you?¡±.
¡°I am all wet now. When I was alive I had a
human heart. I was always very happy.
People called me The Happy Prince.
Then I died. The people put me up there.
From this high place I can see all the bad
things and the sad things in the city. Now
I want to cry when I see these things¡±.
2. The swallow was asked to stay then for a
longer period of time as the Prince¡¯s
messanger. The Prince gave one by one
all this jewels and gold stones to the
swallow for helping the people in need, so
doing this he could wipe the tears of the
¡°Immortal Prince¡±.
So the Prince became happy again
because the poor children of the town
became happy thanks to him.
Then the snow came, and then the ice.
The swallow flew up to the Prince, with
difficulty and said: ¡°Goodbye, dear
Prince, I¡¯m not going to Africa, I¡¯m going
to die.¡± He kissed the Happy Prince, and
fell down dead at his feet. At the moment
there was a strange noise inside the
Prince. His heart broke in two.
3. Early the next morning, the town leaders
were walking in the square below. They
looked up and said: ¡°The Happy Prince
looks very bad today¡±, so they pulled
down the Happy Prince and after put it in
a big fire. But this broken heart will not
burn, so the leaders threw it into the
rubbish , where dead bird was also lying.
Some time later, the King said to the
people to gave to him the most valuable
things in the city and the people brought
him the broken heart and the dead bird.