The Happy Prince And Other Stories recap

Five fairy tales contrast generosity, love, and vanity. The Happy Prince and a migrating Swallow strip the Prince's statue of jewels and gold to help the city's poor; both are discarded after sacrificing everything, then honored in heaven. A Nightingale gives her life to create a red rose for a Student, only for the gift to be rejected and thrown away. A Giant ends the unnatural winter in his garden by welcoming children and is later led to paradise by the child who inspired his change. Little Hans dies while obeying a wealthy Miller who exploits him under the name of friendship. Finally, a boastful Rocket misses a royal display because his own tears have dampened him. He later explodes unnoticed yet remains persuaded of his importance. Across the collection, sacrifice often goes unrecognized by society, while characters are distinguished by whether they can see beyond themselves.

The Happy Prince, now a statue overlooking his city, can see suffering that was hidden from him during his comfortable life. A Swallow pauses beneath the statue on his way to Egypt. At the Prince's request, he carries the ruby from the statue's sword, its sapphire eyes, and its covering of gold to poor residents, including an ill child, a struggling writer, and a match seller. The Swallow stays after the weather turns cold because the Prince has become blind and still needs him. He finally dies at the statue's feet, and the Prince's lead heart breaks. Officials remove the now-plain statue and discard both heart and bird. An angel identifies them as the city's most precious things, and they are received in heaven.

After the Happy Prince and Swallow give away all they possess, a Nightingale hears a Student lament that he lacks a red rose for a promised dance. She believes his longing proves the value of love. A rose tree can produce the flower in winter only if the Nightingale sings through the night with a thorn against her heart. She accepts the sacrifice, and her blood colors the new rose as she dies. The Student offers the flower to the Professor's daughter, but she prefers jewels sent by another admirer and says the rose will not suit her dress. He throws it into the street, where it is crushed, and retreats to philosophy after deciding that love is impractical. Neither beneficiary understands the Nightingale's gift.

The collection's third tale concerns a Giant who returns from a long absence, bars children from his garden, and builds a wall around it. Without the children, the garden remains frozen while spring reaches the surrounding country. One morning the children enter through a gap and the trees flower again, except in a corner where a little boy cannot climb. The Giant recognizes his selfishness, lifts the boy into the tree, and opens the garden permanently. The boy disappears, though the Giant longs to see him again. Years later, when the Giant is old, the child returns bearing wounds in his hands and feet and invites him to a heavenly garden. The other children later find the Giant dead beneath a flowering tree.

The first three stories show gifts that are misunderstood and selfishness that can be overcome. The fourth is framed as the Linnet's lesson for a Water-rat. Little Hans, a poor gardener, considers the wealthy Miller his devoted friend. The Miller takes Hans's flowers and asks him to perform a succession of tasks while repeatedly mentioning an old wheelbarrow he plans to give him. He offers no help when Hans struggles through winter. During a storm, the Miller sends Hans to fetch a doctor for his injured son but refuses to lend him a lantern. Hans loses his way and drowns. At the funeral the Miller takes the place of chief mourner, then complains that the promised wheelbarrow has become an inconvenience. The Water-rat dislikes the tale's moral and leaves, confirming that the lesson has not reached him.

The final story follows a Rocket prepared for the wedding of a Prince and a Russian Princess. He boasts to the other fireworks about his ancestry, importance, and sensitivity, then cries at his own imagined emotions. The tears leave him too wet to ignite during the wedding display, and the other fireworks perform splendidly without him. The next day workers throw him into a ditch. He continues boasting to a Frog, a Dragon-fly, and a Duck, failing to notice that none admires him. Two boys later use him to help heat a kettle. After they fall asleep, the Rocket finally dries and explodes, unseen and unimpressive. His spent stick falls on a Goose, but he remains certain at the instant of his destruction that he has created a sensation. He therefore ends the collection unchanged, a comic opposite to the characters whose concern for others gives their losses meaning.

In the final tale, the Remarkable Rocket's vanity ruins his chance to appear in the royal wedding display. His tears have made him too damp to ignite, so the other fireworks perform without him. Workmen throw him away, and he is eventually placed in a fire beneath a kettle by two boys. He dries, ignites only after the boys have fallen asleep, and explodes without an audience. His stick drops onto a Goose, which mistakes it for rain. The Rocket nevertheless dies convinced that his display has astonished everyone. Unlike the Happy Prince, the Swallow, and the reformed Giant, he never gains an accurate understanding of himself; his empty confidence closes the collection's contrast between genuine self-sacrifice and self-regard.