The Happy Prince :: (Swallow, Swallow, Little Swallow!) ::
The sculpture of the late Happy Prince, who had never truly known grief since he lived in a palace where sorrow was not permitted to enter, is encountered by a swallow who was left behind when his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter. The Happy Prince requests the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the gold leaf that adorns his body to give to the needy as he observes numerous scenes of people languishing in poverty from his tall statue. The swallow serves his wish but eventually dies as a result of the unselfish efforts and the extreme cold as winter approaches. The Prince, now stripped of all his beauty, too breaks his lead-heart and dies with the passing away of the swallow. Completely oblivious of their good efforts, the people remove the sculpture from the column with the intention of replacing it with a statue of the Mayor and dump the dead swallow and broken heart into a pile of dust while melting the metal in a furnace. An angel who has determined that these are the two most valuable items in the city takes them up to heaven. God confirms this, and they spend all of eternity in His Garden of Paradise and City of Gold. Oscar Wilde originally released his collection tale of children, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, in May 1888.
[Information and Image Credit: The_Happy_Prince_and_Other_Tales , Wikipedia]
[Wikipedia-Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happy_Prince_and_Other_Tales ]
[Image : AI Colorised version of the Plate 1 for the first edition by Walter Crane ] [Original Media File (Image) is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1928, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. (Please Relate to Individual Image URLs for More Usage Property)]
[Wikipedia-Source Image-Link :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plate_1_of_The_Happy_Prince_and_Other_Tales_(1888).png ]
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