The Happy Prince: And Other Stories

The Happy Prince and other stories (1888) by Oscar Wilde, Illustrated by Charles Robinson. The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is a collection of stories for children. It contains five stories, "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket". It is most famous for its title story, "The Happy Prince". In the main story, a swallow meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", which houses the soul of the original prince, who in reality had never experienced true happiness. The statue inspires the swallow to selfless acts. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.