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.
He was very much admired indeed.'He is as beautiful as a weathercock,' remarked
one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic
taste; 'only not quite so useful,' he added, fearing lest people should think
him unpractical, which he really was not.
'Why can't you be like the Happy Prince?' asked a sensible mother of her little
boy who was crying for the moon. 'The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for
anything.'
'I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy', muttered a
disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.
'He looks just like an angel,' said the Charity Children as they came out of
the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks, and their clean white pinafores.
'How do you know?' said the Mathematical Master, 'you have never seen one.'
'Ah! but we have, in our dreams,' answered the children; and the Mathematical
Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children
dreaming.
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, for he was in love with
the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying
down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her
slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.
'Shall I love you said the Swallow', who liked to come to the point at once,
and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the
water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it
lasted all through the summer.
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