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.

One night there flew over the city a little swallow. His friends

had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed

behind; then he decided to go to Egypt too.

All day long he flew,

and at night time he

arrived at the city.“Where shall I put

up?” he said. “I hope

the town has made

preparations.”

Then he saw the

statue on the tall column.

“I will put up there,”

he cried. “It is a fine

position with plenty of

fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of

the Happy Prince.

“I have a golden

bed-room,” he said

softly to himself as he

looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under

his wing a large drop of water fell on him. “What a curious thing!”

he cried. “There is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are

quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining.”

Then another drop fell.

“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off ?” he said.

“I must look for a good chimney pot,” and he determined to fly away.

But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he

looked up, and saw — Ah! What did he see?

The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears

were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful

in the moonlight that the little swallow was filled with pity.

“Who are you?” he said.

“I am the Happy Prince.”

“Why are you weeping then?” asked the swallow. “You have

quite drenched me.”

“When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the

statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace,

where sorrow is not allowed to enter. My courtiers called me the

Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was. So I lived, and so I died.

And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I

can see the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my

heart is made of lead yet I cannot choose but weep.”

‘What! Is he not solid gold?’ said the swallow to himself. He

was too polite to make any personal remarks.

“Far away,” continued the statue in a low musical voice, “far

away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is

open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her

face is thin and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked

by the needle, for she is a seamstress. She is embroidering flowers

on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids of honour,

to wear at the next Court ball. In a bed in the corner of the room

her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking his mother

to give him oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river

water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you

not bring her the ruby out of my sword hilt? My feet are fastened

to this pedestal and I cannot move.”

I have Taken my starting chapter form the happy prince by OSCAR WILDE …but my real story will start after ending of the happy prince…so please don't say that I have copied or I am a cheater…my starting chapter are kind of introduction without this you can't understand my own story...

Thank you..

“I am waited for in Egypt,” said the swallow. “My friends are

flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus flowers.

Soon they will go to sleep.”

The Prince asked the swallow to stay with him for one night

and be his messenger. “The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so

sad,” he said.

“I don’t think I like boys,” answered the swallow. “I want to go

to Egypt.”

But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little swallow was

sorry. “It is very cold here,” he said. But he agreed to stay with

him for one night and be his messenger.

“Thank you, little Swallow,” said the Prince.

The swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword,

and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.

He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels

were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of

dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover.

“I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State ball,” she

said. “I have ordered flowers to be embroidered on it, but the

seamstresses are so lazy.”

He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging on the

masts of the ships. At last he came to the poor woman’s house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings. “How cool I feel!” said the boy, “I must be getting better;”

and he sank into a delicious slumber.

Then the swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done.

“It is curious,” he remarked, “but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.”

“That is because you have done a good action,” said the Prince. And the little swallow began to think, and then fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy. When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath.“Tonight I go to Egypt,” said the swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the monuments and sat a long time on top of the church steeple. When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.

“Have you any commissions for Egypt?” he cried. “I am

just starting.”

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you

stay with me one night longer?”

“I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the swallow.

“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “far away

across the city I see a young man in a garret. He is leaning over a

desk covered with papers, and in the glass by his side there is a

bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his

lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes.

He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he

is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the grate, and

hunger has made him faint.”