But he said to them, “I am not worthy, for I have denied the mother who bore me, nor may I rest till I have found her, and known her forgiveness. Therefore, let me go, for I must wander again over the world, and may not tarry here, though ye bring me the crown and the sceptre.”

  And as he spake he turned his face from them towards the street that led to the gate of the city, and lo! amongst the crowd that pressed round the soldiers, he saw the beggar woman who was his mother, and at her side stood the leper, who had sat by the road.

  And a cry of joy broke from his lips, and he ran over, and kneeling down he kissed the wounds on his mother’s feet, and wet them with his tears. He bowed his head in the dust, and sobbing, as one whose heart might break, he said to her: “Mother, I denied thee in the hour of my pride. Accept me in the hour of my humility. Mother, I gave thee hatred. Do thou give me love. Mother, I rejected thee. Receive thy child now.” But the beggar woman answered him not a word.

  And he reached out his hands, and clasped the white feet of the leper, and said to him: “Thrice did I give thee of my mercy. Bid my mother speak to me once.” But the leper answered him not a word.

  And he sobbed again, and said: “Mother, my suffering is greater than I can bear. Give me thy forgiveness, and let me go back to the forest.” And the beggar woman put her hand on his head, and said to him, “Rise,” and the leper put his hand on his head, and said to him, “Rise,” also.

  And he rose up from his feet, and looked at them, and lo! they were a king and a queen.

  And the Queen said to him, “This is thy father whom thou hast succoured.”

  And the King said, “This is thy mother, whose feet thou hast washed with thy tears.”

  And they fell on his neck and kissed him, and brought him into the palace, and clothed him in fair raiment, and set the crown upon his head, and the sceptre in his hand, and over the city that stood by the river he ruled, and was its lord. Much justice and mercy did he show to all, and the evil Magician he banished, and to the Woodcutter and his wife he sent many rich gifts, and to their children he gave high honour. Nor would he suffer any to be cruel to bird or beast, but taught love and loving kindness and charity, and to the poor he gave bread, and to the naked he gave raiment, and there was peace and plenty in the land.

  Yet ruled he not long, so great had been his suffering, and so bitter the fire of his testing, for after the space of three years he died. And he who came after him ruled evilly.

  Notes

  p. 3, Carlos Blacker: A close friend of Wilde’s.

  p. 9, the Palace of Sans-Souci: A real palace in Germany, whose name means “without care” (French).

  p. 172, the Second Cataract: A shallow section of the river Nile, which is a white-water rapid.

  p. 172, the god Memnon… then he is silent: A reference to a statue in the ancient city of Thebes in Egypt which was said to sing in the early-morning sunlight.

  p. 87, Constance Mary Wilde: Wilde’s wife, born Constance Mary Lloyd (1859–98).

  p. 89, Margaret, Lady Brooke: Margaret, Lady Brooke (1849–1936), who had the title “Ranee of Sarawak”, was queen consort of the ruler of Sarawak (an old kingdom on the island of Borneo, part of what is now Malaysia), Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke. She was a friend of Wilde’s.

  p. 93, Adonis: A beautiful young man in Greek mythology.

  p. 94, Bithynian slave of Hadrian: Antinous, who came from the region of Bithynia in Asia Minor, and was a lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138).

  p. 94, Endymion: A beautiful young man in Greek mythology who was loved by Selene, the goddess of the moon.

  p. 95, Narcissus: A beautiful young man in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection and died.

  p. 104, The Nile has not overflowed… Isis and Osiris: Isis and Osiris, who were brother and sister as well as husband and wife, were ancient Egyptian gods of fertility. They have been cursed because the ancient Egyptians relied on the river Nile flooding every year to fertilize their lands so that they could grow crops.

  p. 110, Cain: In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Cain is one of the sons of Adam and Eve. He kills his brother Abel, the first murder ever committed.

  p. 116, Mrs William H. Grenfell, of Taplow Court: Mrs William H. Grenfell (1867–1952), who was born Ethel Fane and had the title Lady Desborough, was a celebrity in Wilde’s day. Wilde was a frequent visitor to Taplow Court, the house in Buckinghamshire where she lived.

  p. 118, the Grand Inquisitor: The head of the Inquisition, a special religious court set up by the Catholic Church to punish heresy.

  p. 118, the Holy Office: Another name for the Inquisition (see previous note).

  p. 119, Mi reina! Mi reina!: “My queen! My queen!” (Spanish).

  p. 119, the Papal Nuncio: An ambassador representing the Pope.

  p. 119, the Escorial: A monastery near Madrid in Spain that was also the palace of the Spanish king.

  p. 119, the church of La Atocha: A famous church in Madrid that contained a now lost icon representing the Virgin Mary, called Our Lady of Atocha.

  p. 120, Trappist: The Trappists are an order of monks.

  p. 121, the Reformed Church: A name for the Christian denominations that emerged during the Reformation, a sixteenth-century movement that protested against some of the practices and doctrines of the Catholic Church.

  p. 121, vrai sourire de France: “True smile of France” (French).

  p. 123, the Camarera Mayor: The member of the royal household responsible for the Queen’s bedchamber and wardrobe.

  p. 125, the semi-classical tragedy of Sophonisba: A noblewoman from the ancient city of Carthage. When she was captured during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), fought between Carthage and the Romans, she committed suicide rather than submit to her enemies. Her story has been the subject of many stage tragedies.

  p. 126, Nuestra Señora Del Pilar: “Our Lady of the Pillar” (Spanish), another name for the Virgin Mary, who was said to have miraculously appeared on a pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, in 40 AD.

  p. 126, the Prince of the Asturias: The title given to the heir to the Spanish throne.

  p. 130, Caffarelli: Caffarelli, whose real name was Gaetano Majorano (1710–83), was an Italian opera singer. He was a “castrato”, which means that he was able to attain extremely high-pitched singing notes.

  p. 133, the Emperor Charles V: Charles I of Spain (1500–58), who reigned from 1516 to 1556, was also the Holy Roman Emperor, as Charles V, from 1519 to 1556. The Holy Roman Empire was founded in AD 800 to unite Christian countries in Europe, and included what is now Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and other parts of central Europe.

  p. 137, Pan: An ancient Greek god of flocks and herds with the torso of a man and the legs of a goat. He is often shown playing a special kind of pipe.

  p. 141, the house of Hapsburg: The royal family that ruled Spain from 1504 to 1700.

  p. 142, Philip II: Philip II (1527–98) was king of Spain from 1556 to 1598. He was the son of Charles I (see note to p. 133 ).

  p. 142, Holbein’s Dance of Death: A series of woodcuts by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497–1543) in which Death is shown carrying off people from all walks of life, both rich and poor.

  p. 145, Venus: The Roman goddess of love.

  p. 145, Was it Echo?: In Greek mythology, Echo was a nymph (a beautiful female spirit living in woods or near water) who lost the power of speech as a punishment for talking too much. Afterwards she could only repeat the words of other people.

  p. 148, petit monstre: “Little monster” (French).

  p. 148, Mi bella Princesa: “My beautiful princess” (Spanish).

  p. 149, HSH Alice, Princess of Monaco: Alice Heine (1858–1925) was an American who married Prince Albert I of Monaco (a tiny country on the Mediterranean). She was a famous supporter of the arts (especially theatre, opera and ballet), and knew Wilde.

  p. 153, of the sirens… and be drowned: In Greek mythology, sirens were half-bird, half-woman creatures whose beautiful singing lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks.

  p. 207, the Field of the Fullers: A fuller is a person who beats cloth to clean and thicken it. In the Bible, the fullers’ field is located outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, presumably because of the offensive smells produced by the process.

  p. 210, Miss Margot Tennant: Emma Alice Margaret Tennant (1864–1945) was a socialite who would go on to be the wife of Herbert Henry Asquith (1852–1928), prime minister of the United Kingdom 1908–16. She was a friend of Wilde’s.

  extra material

  for young readers

  the writer

  Oscar Wilde was born on 16th October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the second son of William and Jane Wilde, who were both very intelligent, well-educated people. William Wilde was a surgeon, who specialized in operating on ears and eyes. He was so good at it and worked so hard to help the poor that he was made a knight, so he was then called “Sir William Wilde”. Meanwhile, his wife Jane (who became “Lady Wilde”) wrote poetry, especially about Ireland and its fight to become independent from the United Kingdom. The Wilde house was always buzzing with thinkers and cultured people; their knowledge and witty conversation had a big influence on Oscar.

  Oscar himself was very bright and loved books. He didn’t go to school until he was eleven, but he had lessons at home and learnt to speak French and German. When he did start school, he soon showed just how brilliant he was. He became very interested in ancient Greek, and began to win scholarships and prizes for his work. But not everything went well during his school years. When he was just twelve, his younger sister Isola died from a fever. Oscar loved her deeply, and losing her upset him terribly.

  Life went on, and Oscar went to study at Trinity College, Dublin. Again, he proved to be an excellent student, and after finishing his studies there he received a scholarship to go to Oxford University, where he studied Classics (ancient Greek and Roman literature). But Oscar didn’t just study at Oxford. He also became interested in something called “aestheticism”. This was a belief that art and beauty were more important than anything else. For Oscar, aestheticism became a way of life. He had long, flowing hair and wore elegant clothes; he filled his room with flowers and blue china, and he became famous for always having something clever and witty to say. All this made him very popular with some people – and very unpopular with others, who thought he was just a big, shallow show-off.

  By the time he left Oxford, Oscar had started to write – mainly poetry, at first. By now, he was famous and clever enough to be giving lectures, not only in the UK but in America, too. People wanted to hear about aestheticism, and Oscar Wilde could talk about it better than anyone else. He also looked and behaved like a true “aesthete”, so people were fascinated by him. Soon, he attracted the attention of a beautiful, wealthy heiress called Constance Lloyd, and they were married in 1884. In 1885, their first son Cyril was born, and his brother Vyvyan soon followed in 1886. When Oscar was asked to be the editor of a magazine called The Lady’s World, it seemed that everything was going well.

  For a few years, Oscar worked hard, and published several books. In 1888, his first collection of fairy stories appeared – The Happy Prince and Other Tales. These stories all had a moral, or meaning; they seemed to say that showing kindness and love for others was very important. This didn’t seem to fit with Oscar’s aestheticism, which was all about putting beauty first. Shortly afterwards, Oscar wrote his famous novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this story, the main character sells his soul so that he can always look young and beautiful, even if he leads a wild and wicked life. His evil deeds instead show themselves on his portrait, which grows uglier every day. The character meets a nasty end, but Oscar was still criticized for the book because people felt it promoted a wild, pleasure-seeking life. Then, the following year, he published his second collection of fairy tales, A House of Pomegranates, which, like The Happy Prince, seemed to criticize shallowness and cruelty. So the fairy tales didn’t fit with many people’s idea of who Oscar Wilde really was, but he was a complicated person – perhaps more complicated than he liked to show.

  Oscar carried on writing and in 1892 his first play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, was performed. Soon afterwards, he met a handsome young man named Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed Bosie; and in spite of being married to Constance, Oscar fell in love with him. In Victorian society, two men falling in love was seen as being sinful. Having a relationship with each other was against the law, but Oscar and Alfred didn’t try very hard to hide it. Despite his growing success from writing plays such as An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar’s love for Alfred cost him everything he had.

  When Alfred’s father insulted Oscar, Oscar took him to court. It was a big mistake. The court rejected his charges and Oscar ended up on trial himself for his relationship with Alfred. He was found guilty, and sentenced to two years’ hard labour in prison. Oscar was used to a life of fine living and luxury, so this was a terrible hardship. By the time he was free again, he was sick, weak and desperately unhappy – a broken man. He fled to France, where he spent his final years living in poverty, separated from his family. He never saw his two sons again. In 1900 he died from a disease of the brain called meningitis. He was only forty-six.

  the collection

  Given the extravagant, intellectual life that Oscar Wilde led, it is perhaps surprising that he decided to write fairy tales. But it’s important to remember that he wrote them not long after the birth of his two sons, when he was enjoying family life. According to his son Vyvyan, Oscar loved spending time with them. He would join them in their nursery, crawl around on the floor and pretend to be all sorts of different animals. He also loved telling them stories. The Happy Prince and Other Tales (which contained five of the stories in this book) was published when Cyril was three and Vyvyan was just two; A House of Pomegranates (which contained the other four stories) came out in 1891, three years later. However, Oscar claimed that A House of Pomegranates wasn’t really written for children at all. It’s hard to know if he really meant that, especially as he also claimed that they were not for the British public either. So who were they for? We can never be sure.

  What does seem clear is that Oscar wanted to use the tales as a way of commenting on what he saw in the people and society around him – and, probably, himself. The most striking themes are love and sacrifice. It seems that despite Oscar’s belief in aestheticism, deep down he believed that giving your life for the sake of someone else is the greatest thing you can do. Both the Swallow in ‘The Happy Prince’ and the Nightingale in ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ are examples of this. Many of the stories also seem very critical of the selfish, uncaring attitudes of the wealthy classes – in ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’, the wealthy Infanta (Spanish princess) doesn’t care about the Dwarf who performs for her, and the rich Miller in ‘The Devoted Friend’ treats Little Hans with terrible cruelty. In other stories, such as ‘The Remarkable Rocket’, Oscar seems to poke fun at people such as himself for always thinking they are more important and exciting than anyone else. ‘The Fisherman and His Soul’ is rather different from the other tales, because it explores the idea that a person’s soul can be separated from his or her body. In the end, though, it is also about the importance of love.

  Oscar Wilde’s stories are beautifully written, often using old-fashioned phrases to create a fairy-tale atmosphere. They also contain lovely descriptions of his imaginary worlds. The Happy Prince was well received when it first appeared; but it was soon to be overshadowed by Oscar’s only novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which caused an uproar. This has been the pattern ever since – the novel and plays, particularly Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, have been given more attention than the tales. All the same, some have been adapted into plays, operas or ballets, or for television and radio. The most popular ones are ‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ and ‘The Selfish Giant’.

  the stories

  The Happy Prince

  The handsome statue of a prince begs a swallow not to fly off to Egypt for the winter. Instead, he asks him to take the ruby from the hilt of his sword, the sapphires from his eyes and the gold covering his body to the poor people in the city. The Swallow agrees, but when the cold winter arrives, he dies – which breaks the Prince’s heart. The town mayor takes down the plain statue, and hopes to replace it with one of himself; only God recognizes the beautiful sacrifice that the Prince and the Swallow have made.

  The message? Love and sacrifice are beautiful, but they will not always be recognized or respected.

  The Nightingale and the Rose

  To win the heart of the Professor’s daughter, a student needs a red rose. A nightingale decides to help him. Although there are only white roses in the garden, she can turn one of them red by singing all night with the rose’s thorn pressed into her breast. Her blood turns the rose red, but by the end of the night, she dies. The Student takes the red rose to the girl, but she rejects him because it won’t go with her dress, and someone else has brought her jewels instead.

  The message? Love and sacrifice are beautiful and worthwhile, but society doesn’t value them.

  The Selfish Giant

  A selfish giant chases away the children who like to play in his lovely garden, and builds a wall around it. But when they’ve gone, winter comes and never leaves. At last, a bird starts singing again, showing that spring has returned; the Giant realizes the children have found a way in through the wall, and he’s sorry for his mistake. He helps a boy climb a tree and lets the children back in. At the end of his life, the Giant realizes that the boy he helped is the Christ child.