The Happy Prince and Other Tales

First edition

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket".

"The Happy Prince"

Plate 1 for the first edition by Walter Crane

In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isn't allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise....


Adaptations

"The Nightingale and the Rose"

A nightingale overhears a student complaining that the professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life. Seeing the student in tears, and valuing his human life above her bird life, the nightingale carries out the ritual. She impales herself on the rose-tree's thorn so that her heart's blood can stain the rose. The student takes the rose to the professor's daughter, but she again rejects him because another man has sent her some real jewels and "everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers." The student angrily throws the rose into the gutter, returns to his study of metaphysics, and decides not to believe in true love anymore.

Adaptations

There are many adaptations of this story in the form of operas and ballets. These include:

Literary adaptations

"The Selfish Giant"

Plate 2 for the first edition by Walter Crane

The Selfish Giant owns a beautiful garden which has 12 peach trees and lovely fragrant flowers, in which children love to play after returning from the school. On the giant's return from seven years visiting his friend the Cornish Ogre, he takes offense at the children and builds a wall to keep them out. He put a notice board "TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED". The garden falls into perpetual winter. One day, the giant is awakened by a linnet, and discovers that spring has returned to the garden, as the children have found a way in through a gap in the wall. He sees the error of his ways, and resolves to destroy the wall. However, when he emerges from his castle, all the children run away except for one boy who was trying to climb a tree. The giant helps this boy into the tree and announces: "It is your garden now, little children," and knocks down the wall. The children once more play in the garden, and spring returns. But the boy that the Giant helped does not return and the Giant is heartbroken. Many years later after happily playing with the children all the time, the Giant is old and feeble. One winter morning, he awakes to see the trees in one part of his garden in full blossom. He descends from the castle to discover the boy that he once helped lying beneath a beautiful white tree that the Giant has never seen before. The Giant sees that the boy bears the stigmata. He does not realize that the boy is actually the Christ Child and is furious that somebody has wounded him.

Shortly afterwards, the happy giant dies. That same afternoon, his body is found lying under the tree, covered in blossoms.

Adaptations

English singer and composer Liza Lehmann wrote the recitation The Selfish Giant in 1911.[6]

English light music composer Eric Coates wrote the orchestral Phantasy The Selfish Giant in 1925.[7] In 1933–1934, violinist-composer Jenő Hubay adapted the story into a Hungarian language opera, Az önző óriás (Der selbstsüchtige Riese), Op. 124. The libretto was written by László Márkus and Jenő Mohácsi.

A record album was produced in the 1940s by American Decca, narrated by Fredric March, with a full unnamed supporting cast.

In 1971, Peter Sander wrote and produced an animated version of The Selfish Giant for CTV in Canada. The music was by Ron Goodwin. It was nominated at the 44th Academy Awards (1972) in the Animated Short Subject category, one of only three films to receive a nomination. It was first broadcast in November that year.[8]

In the 1990s, the Australian team of composer Graeme Koehne and choreographer Graeme Murphy created a children's ballet based on The Selfish Giant.

In the 1997 film Wilde, based on the life of the author, portions of The Selfish Giant are woven in, with Wilde and his wife telling the story to their children, the portions reflecting on his relationship with them and others: the sadness of the children who can no longer play in the giant's garden is reflected in that of Wilde's sons as their beloved father spends more time with his lovers than with them.

In 2009, composer Stephen DeCesare adapted the "Selfish Giant" as a musical.

In 2010, composer Dan Goeller wrote an orchestral interpretation of the story. That same year Chris Beatrice created new illustrations for the story. In 2011 they released a combination of a CD containing the orchestration and new narration by Martin Jarvis, plus the newly illustrated book.

In 2010, UK composer Howard Goodall wrote a version, to a commission from the Brighton Festival, for narrator, children's choir and orchestra.

An illustrated and abridged version was published in 2013 by Alexis Deacon.

The Selfish Giant is a 2013 British drama film directed by Clio Barnard, inspired by and loosely based on the Oscar Wilde story.

"The Devoted Friend"

Hans was a little man who owned a beautiful garden where he grew flowers of all kinds and colors which were sold in the market to make some money. He enjoyed the company of another man called Hugh, a miller who used to visit Hans very often during the summer time and with whom he shared thoughts about friendship and loyalty. Hans was so devoted to Hugh that he even gifted him whole bunches of flowers from his own garden. However when winter came Hans found himself in a very difficult situation as his flowers wouldn't flourish anymore until the following spring. Since his main source of money wasn't available he lived of the profits he had made during the summer, but one winter was so stark that he had to sell some of his useful gardening tools, including his wheelbarrow and some silver buttons. Meanwhile, the miller lived comfortably in his own house and avoided visiting his friend or helping him in any way not to make him jealous and spoil if not break their friendship. Finally a new season came and it was time for Hans to pick some of his newly flowered roses and daffodils and sell them. Nevertheless he couldn't because he sold his wheelbarrow. Hugh finally visited him after a long time and hearing about his problem he decides to kindly gift him one of his old wheelbarrows in exchange of a few favors. Hans accepted the deal but the unceasing requests of the miller kept him so busy that he couldn't even take care of his own garden! One day Hans was asked to go and seek for a doctor for Hugh’s son had hurt himself but it was a stormy and rainy night and he could barely see where he was going. After finding the doctor, on the way back home he got lost and drowned in a hole full of water. Hugh, of course, attended Hans funeral and concluded with the following sentence: “A great loss to me at any rate," answered the Miller; "why, I had as good as given him my wheelbarrow, and now I really don't know what to do with it. It is very much in my way at home, and it is in such bad repair that I could not get anything for it if I sold it. I will certainly take care not to give away anything again. One always suffers for being generous."

"The Remarkable Rocket"

This story concerns a firework, who is one of many to be let off at the wedding of a prince and princess. The rocket is extremely pompous and self-important, and denigrates all the other fireworks, eventually bursting into tears to demonstrate his "sensitivity". As this makes him wet, he fails to ignite, and, the next day, is thrown away into a ditch. He still believes that he is destined for great public importance, and treats a frog, dragonfly, and duck that meet him with appropriate disdain. Two boys find him, and use him for fuel on their camp-fire. The rocket is finally lit and explodes, but nobody observes him - the only effect he has is to frighten a goose with his falling stick.

The Remarkable Rocket, unlike the other stories in the collection, contains a large number of Wildean epigrams:

"Conversation, indeed!" said the Rocket. "You have talked the whole time yourself. That is not conversation."
"Somebody must listen," answered the Frog, "and I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments."
"But I like arguments," said the Rocket.
"I hope not," said the Frog complacently. "Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good society holds exactly the same opinions."

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pairpoint, Lionel. "And Here's Bing". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Orson Welles & Bing Crosby - The Happy Prince (1946) (Part 1)". YouTube. 2009-06-13. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "RTÉjr - Listen". Rte.ie. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "The Selfish Giant". Chappell & Co. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  7. ↑ "Orchestral Works of Eric Coates". Musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  8. ↑ "The Selfish Giant (1972) Theatrical Cartoon". Bcdb.com. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
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