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CHAPTER 1 THE HAPPY PRINCE
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High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince.
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He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright
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sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.
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He was very much admired indeed.
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"He is as beautiful as a weathercock," remarked one of the Town Councillors who
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wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; "only not quite so
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useful," he added, fearing lest people
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should think him unpractical, which he really was not.
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"Why can't you be like the Happy Prince?" asked a sensible mother of her little boy
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who was crying for the moon.
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"The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything."
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"I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy," muttered a
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disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.
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"He looks just like an angel," said the Charity Children as they came out of the
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cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.
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"How do you know?" said the Mathematical Master, "you have never seen one."
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"Ah! but we have, in our dreams," answered the children; and the Mathematical Master
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frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.
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One night there flew over the city a little Swallow.
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His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for
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he was in love with the most beautiful Reed.
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He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big
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yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to
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talk to her.
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"Shall I love you?" said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the
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Reed made him a low bow.
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So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver
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ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all
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through the summer.
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"It is a ridiculous attachment," twittered the other Swallows; "she has no money, and
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far too many relations"; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds.
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Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.
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After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady- love.
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"She has no conversation," he said, "and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she
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is always flirting with the wind." And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the
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Reed made the most graceful curtseys.
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"I admit that she is domestic," he continued, "but I love travelling, and my
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wife, consequently, should love travelling also."
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"Will you come away with me?" he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her
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head, she was so attached to her home. "You have been trifling with me," he cried.
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"I am off to the Pyramids.
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Good-bye!" and he flew away. All day long he flew, and at night-time he
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arrived at the city. "Where shall I put up?" he said; "I hope
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the town has made preparations."
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Then he saw the statue on the tall column. "I will put up there," he cried; "it is a
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fine position, with plenty of fresh air." So he alighted just between the feet of the
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Happy Prince.
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"I have a golden bedroom," he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he
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prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large
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drop of water fell on him.
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"What a curious thing!" he cried; "there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars
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are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining.
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The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful.
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The Reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her selfishness."
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Then another drop fell.
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"What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?" he said; "I must look
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for a good chimney-pot," and he determined to fly away.
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But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw--Ah!
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what did he see?
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The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his
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golden cheeks.
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His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with
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pity. "Who are you?" he said.
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"I am the Happy Prince."
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"Why are you weeping then?" asked the Swallow; "you have quite drenched me."
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"When I was alive and had a human heart," answered the statue, "I did not know what
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tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans- Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to
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enter.
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In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the
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dance in the Great Hall.
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Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it,
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everything about me was so beautiful.
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My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be
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happiness. So I lived, and so I died.
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And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the
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ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I
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cannot chose but weep."
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"What! is he not solid gold?" said the Swallow to himself.
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He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.
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"Far away," continued the statue in a low musical voice, "far away in a little street
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there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it
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I can see a woman seated at a table.
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Her face is thin and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the
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needle, for she is a seamstress.
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She is embroidering passion- flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen's
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maids-of- honour to wear at the next Court- ball.
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In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill.
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He has a fever, and is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but
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river water, so he is crying.
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Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-
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hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I
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cannot move."
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"I am waited for in Egypt," said the Swallow.
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"My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-
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flowers.
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Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King.
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The King is there himself in his painted coffin.
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He is wrapped in yellow linen, and embalmed with spices.
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Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered
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leaves."
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"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me for
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one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so
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sad."
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"I don't think I like boys," answered the Swallow.
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"Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the
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miller's sons, who were always throwing stones at me.
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They never hit me, of course; we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I
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come of a family famous for its agility; but still, it was a mark of disrespect."
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But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry.
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"It is very cold here," he said; "but I will stay with you for one night, and be
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your messenger."
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"Thank you, little Swallow," said the Prince.
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So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince's sword, and flew away with
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it in his beak over the roofs of the town.
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He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured.
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He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing.
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A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover.
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"How wonderful the stars are," he said to her, "and how wonderful is the power of
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love!"
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"I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball," she answered; "I have
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ordered passion-flowers to be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are so lazy."
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He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships.
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He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews bargaining with each other, and
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weighing out money in copper scales.
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At last he came to the poor house and looked in.
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The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was
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so tired.
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In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman's thimble.
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Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy's forehead with his wings.
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"How cool I feel," said the boy, "I must be getting better"; and he sank into a
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delicious slumber. Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy
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Prince, and told him what he had done.
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"It is curious," he remarked, "but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold."
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"That is because you have done a good action," said the Prince.
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And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep.
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Thinking always made him sleepy. When day broke he flew down to the river
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and had a bath.
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"What a remarkable phenomenon," said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing
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over the bridge. "A swallow in winter!"
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And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper.
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Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.
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"To-night I go to Egypt," said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect.
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He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church
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steeple.
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Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped, and said to each other, "What a
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distinguished stranger!" so he enjoyed himself very much.
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When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.
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"Have you any commissions for Egypt?" he cried; "I am just starting."
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"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me one
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night longer?" "I am waited for in Egypt," answered the
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Swallow.
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"To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract.
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The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne
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sits the God Memnon.
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All night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he utters one
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cry of joy, and then he is silent. At noon the yellow lions come down to the
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water's edge to drink.
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They have eyes like green beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the
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cataract.
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"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "far away across the city I see
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a young man in a garret.
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He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there
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is a bunch of withered violets.
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His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large
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and dreamy eyes.
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He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold
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to write any more. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger
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has made him faint."
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"I will wait with you one night longer," said the Swallow, who really had a good
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heart. "Shall I take him another ruby?"
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"Alas!
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I have no ruby now," said the Prince; "my eyes are all that I have left.
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They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago.
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Pluck out one of them and take it to him.
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He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish his play."
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"Dear Prince," said the Swallow, "I cannot do that"; and he began to weep.
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"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I command you."
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So the Swallow plucked out the Prince's eye, and flew away to the student's garret.
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It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof.
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Through this he darted, and came into the room.
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The young man had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of
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the bird's wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the
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withered violets.
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"I am beginning to be appreciated," he cried; "this is from some great admirer.
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Now I can finish my play," and he looked quite happy.
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The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour.
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He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out
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of the hold with ropes.
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"Heave a-hoy!" they shouted as each chest came up.
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"I am going to Egypt"! cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon rose
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he flew back to the Happy Prince.
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"I am come to bid you good-bye," he cried. "Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said
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the Prince, "will you not stay with me one night longer?"
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"It is winter," answered the Swallow, "and the chill snow will soon be here.
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In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm- trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud
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and look lazily about them.
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My companions are building a nest in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white
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doves are watching them, and cooing to each other.
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Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will
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bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away.
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The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the
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great sea." "In the square below," said the Happy
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Prince, "there stands a little match-girl.
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She has let her matches fall in the gutter, and they are all spoiled.
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Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and she is crying.
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She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare.
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Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her, and her father will not beat her."
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"I will stay with you one night longer," said the Swallow, "but I cannot pluck out
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your eye. You would be quite blind then."
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"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I command you."
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So he plucked out the Prince's other eye, and darted down with it.
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He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand.
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"What a lovely bit of glass," cried the little girl; and she ran home, laughing.
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Then the Swallow came back to the Prince.
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"You are blind now," he said, "so I will stay with you always."
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"No, little Swallow," said the poor Prince, "you must go away to Egypt."
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"I will stay with you always," said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince's feet.
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All the next day he sat on the Prince's shoulder, and told him stories of what he
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had seen in strange lands.
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He told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and
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catch gold-fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself,
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and lives in the desert, and knows
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everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side of their camels, and
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carry amber beads in their hands; of the King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is
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as black as ebony, and worships a large
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crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty
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priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who sail over a big lake on
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large flat leaves, and are always at war with the butterflies.
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"Dear little Swallow," said the Prince, "you tell me of marvellous things, but more
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marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of women.
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There is no Mystery so great as Misery.