The Happy Prince Chapter 03

Part Three
The Broken Heart
The next day the Swallow tells the Prince stories about strange places.
'In Egypt there are red birds called ibises.
They stand by the river Nile and catch fish.
There is a Sphinx, too.
It is very old and lives in the desert.
It knows everything.
There is a big green snake.
It sleeps in a palm tree.'
'Dear little Swallow,'
says the Prince,
'you tell me about marvellous things.
But misery is the biggest mystery.
Fly over the city and tell me what you see.'
So the little Swallow flies over the city.
He sees rich people in beautiful houses.
He sees poor people in dark streets.
He sees hungry children with white faces.
They are very cold.
He flies back to the Prince and tells him everything.
'I am covered with gold,' says the Prince.
'You must take it off.
Then we can give the gold to the poor.'
The Swallow takes off the gold, leaf by leaf.
He takes it to the poor.
Now the Prince looks dull and grey.
The children's faces are happy.
They laugh and play in the streets.
'We've got bread now!' they say.
It is winter and it is very cold.
There are some little boys skating on the ice.
They are wearing red caps.
The poor little Swallow is very cold.
He does not want to leave the Prince.
He loves him very much.
'Goodbye, dear Prince.
I am dying,'
says the poor little Swallow.
He kisses the Happy Prince
and dies near his feet.
At that moment
there is a strange noise inside the statue.
The Prince's metal heart is breaking.
It is certainly very cold.
The next morning the Mayor of the city looks at the statue.
'Dear me! The Prince looks very ugly!'
'Yes! He looks very bad,'
say the Mayor's friends.
They always agree with the Mayor.
'There is a dead bird near his feet!
Birds must not die here!'
So they pull down the statue of the Happy Prince.
They melt the statue in a furnace.
But the broken heart does not melt.
'How strange!'
says a worker. 'The broken heart does not melt in the furnace.
We must throw it away.'
The worker takes the broken heart and puts it near the dead Swallow.
'Bring me the two most precious things in the city,'
says God to his angel.
The angel brings him the broken heart
and the dead bird.
'Very well!'
says God.
'In my garden of Paradise
this little bird can sing
and the Happy Prince can live forever.'