The Happy Prince

What does this mean for you? You are a selfless empath who always does the right thing by others. You comfort them, help them, and find happiness when others are happy. 

The tale of the Happy Prince goes something like this: On a column in a bustling city lives a brilliantly molded statue. He is positively beautiful, gilded with golden leaves from head to toe with eyes of sapphires and a gleaming ruby at the hilt of his sword. His name is the Happy Prince, for he always smiles and gleams, the epitome of glee. High above the people in the city, he sees every person in town, from the richest aristocrat to the simplest street urchin without a coin to his name. 

At the same time, there lives a Swallow who fell in love with a Reed, but they could not truly get along, for the Reed does not care to travel as the Swallow did. When he leaves her, he flies to a new city, which happened to be the home of the Happy Prince. About to fall asleep at the feet of a statue, a drop of water fell on his head. He thinks it may be raining, but how could that be? There wasn’t any rain anywhere else he could see. Instead, he looks up and finds that the statue above him is crying! Soon the Swallow finds out his name and asks why the Happy Prince cried so. 

Once upon a time, the Happy Prince had a human heart that never knew sorrow, for he lived in a palace filled with pleasure. He could dance and converse and all that knew him called him the Happy Prince. He lived and died this way, but upon his death the city encased him in gold, replaced his heart with lead, and set him high above the city where he now watches all the sorrows of the town. 

He tells the Swallow one of the sorrows he sees, where far away in a small house sits a weeping mother attending to her bedridden son. “Swallow,” he says, “There is a ruby that sits on my hilt. Please give it to her. As a statue I cannot move to give it to her myself.”

The Swallow who constantly travels says that he should be off to Egypt by the morrow, but the Happy Prince entreats him to be his messenger for a single night. It takes some time, but eventually the Swallow gives in. The Swallow took the ruby from the hilt and flew over town, where he too saw all the people from the blushing lady eager for a glittering gown to the deepest guts of the ghetto until he arrived at his destination. He placed the ruby upon the poor woman’s table and returned to the Happy Prince, where he found himself feeling warm despite the chill of winter in the air. 

“You have done a good deed,” the Happy Prince said. “That is why you feel so warm.”

By morning, the Swallow flies off to another city, but returns a few weeks later to a very sad Happy Prince. From his high spot he saw a young man struggling to write that could barely afford food to eat. He begs the Swallow to stay one more night. “Take one of the sapphire eyes and give it to the young lad. Please, dear Swallow, do this for me, for I cannot take it to him myself.” So the Swallow takes one of the sapphire eyes of the Happy Prince and flies over town once again. He finds the young lad struggling to write and sets it on his desk. 

The next day he comes back to the feet of the Happy Prince to bid him goodbye, for it is winter, and birds are meant to fly south when it becomes cold. But the Happy Prince begs the Swallow once more to help him. In the town square he saw a young girl selling matches whose father beat her daily if she could not make a sale. 

“Dear Swallow, please take my other sapphire eye and give it to the girl,” says the Happy Prince. “She needs it more than I.”

“You will be blind if you do that,” the Swallow replies. 

But the Happy Prince will not have any of that and the Swallow then plucks the sapphire eye from the Happy Prince and swoops down into the town square and gives it to the little match girl. Then he returns back to the Happy Prince. “You are blind now and cannot see,” the Swallow says, “and because of that, I will stay with you always.” 

While the Happy Prince tries to persuade him otherwise, the Swallow ends up living at the feet of his prince and tells him many stories of where he has gone, especially Egypt, the golden land of the Nile. Since he is such a great storyteller, the Happy Prince asks the Swallow to be his eyes and tell him all that he sees in his city. So the Swallow goes out, soaring high above them all. He sees the poor and the hungry, the sick and the dirty, and reports this all back to the Happy Prince. 

“Give them the golden leaves that cover my body,” says the Happy Prince. “People always think that gold will make them happy, and I hope that is true for them. They need it more than I do.”

And so leaf after leaf, gold fleck after gold fleck is stripped from the Happy Prince until no gold remains. He now appears tarnished and gray. The people below seem happier with their gold. The children wear furs, the streets are clean, gilded with his gold, and no one goes hungry anymore. Except for the Swallow who never leaves the Happy Prince. The Swallow grows cold and is about to die so he kisses the Happy Prince before death takes him on swift wings and he falls down dead before the feet of his prince. A crack is heard then, for the leaden heart of the Happy Prince has cracked in two, his spirit dying with the Swallow who he loved so much. 

The next morning, the Mayor and his counselors finally see how decayed the Happy Prince had become. Since he’s no longer beautiful, the Happy Prince is no longer needed in the town and whatever remains of him will be used as scrap metal to build the town a new statue–one molded in their own likeness. 

In the aftermath, it is said then that God asked one of his angels to bring him the most precious things in the town and the angel brought to him the spirits of the Swallow and Happy Prince where they forever live in paradise. 

So ends the tale of the Happy Prince. 

But what does this mean for you, dear reader and established Happy Prince? You are selfless and always willing to help others in need. You see their troubles and give yourself willing to offer them a chance at happiness. You possess a heart of gold, but doesn’t mean it is always a good thing to give away every part of yourself. The Happy Prince and the Swallow ultimately lost themselves and the radiance of their hearts because of their unending selflessness. It is good to remember to not neglect your own dreams and desires and to help yourself too. Undoubtedly you are not the only Happy Prince out there too and do not be afraid to ask for help for yourself once and awhile. 

While it is true that the story ends on a positive note, the life the Happy Prince led as a statue was one filled with suffering. He was never able to find happiness for himself except when he was able to help others, and while it is wonderful to lead a life of service, it isn’t good to neglect yourself in the process. He rusted away, leaving all of his beauty for the sake of others and forgot himself and the Swallow. 

Remember, dear reader and established Happy Prince, happiness is found not just in giving yourself away to others, but loving yourself as well.