The Happy Prince and Other Tales
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First published in 1888, The Happy Prince and Other Tales brings together five stories in which Oscar Wilde turns the fairy tale into something at once enchanting and quietly unsettling. From the gilded statue who gives away his riches to relieve the suffering of the poor, to the Nightingale who sacrifices herself for an idea of love, Wilde’s characters inhabit a world of beauty shadowed by cruelty, vanity and indifference. In “The Selfish Giant”, a garden becomes a delicate parable of generosity and belonging, while “The Devoted Friend” and “The Remarkable Rocket” expose the absurdities of self-importance and social pretension.
Written with the clarity of fable and the precision of Wilde’s celebrated wit, these stories move effortlessly between tenderness, satire and melancholy. Their apparent simplicity conceals a searching moral intelligence: compassion is tested, beauty is questioned, and the values of a comfortable society are gently but unmistakably challenged. Among the most distinctive works of Wilde’s early career, the collection remains a remarkable achievement in the literary fairy-tale tradition, appealing as much to adult readers as to children.
From the book
“Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty.”
— Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Tales
On The Happy Prince and Other Tales
“These five tales are all cleverly told, and contain some pretty flights of imagination, many quaint conceits, and plenty of smart sayings.”
— The Pall Mall Gazette, 4 June 1888