05. The Happy Prince

Saurabh

SUMMARY

The story 'Happy Prince' is a story of a Prince and a little swallow. It highlights that love and sacrifice are important aspects in human life. Hence, disparity and sorrow in society can be overcome by compassion, generosity and sharing The generous Prince and the gentle swallow sacrificed themselves to bring happiness to the poor and needy people.


Think About It


Q1. Why do the courtiers call the prince ‘the Happy Prince’? Is he really happy? What does he see all around him?

Ans – The courtiers called the Prince 'the Happy Prince' because he was always happy when he was alive. He did not know what was sadness because he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. When the Prince died and his statue was installed on a tall column overlooking the city, he could see the sorrow and poverty in many homes.
Thus, he was not happy as he could see all the misery and ugliness of the city around him.

Q2. Why does the Happy Prince send a ruby for the seamstress? What does the swallow do in the seamstress’ house?

Ans – The Happy Prince sent a ruby for the seamstress as she was extremely poor and could not feed her child who was suffering from fever. The swallow, on being persuaded by the prince, went to the seamstress' house. He kept the ruby beside the seamstress on the table. The sorrow then flew around the bed and fanned the boy's forehead with his wings.

Q3. For whom does the prince send the sapphires and why?

Ans – The prince sent the sapphires for two people, the young playwright across the city. The sapphire was sent to the young playwright so that he could sell it to the jeweller and buy firewood and finish his play and the prince send another sapphires to a poor girl selling matches, who had lost all the matches she had.

Q4. What does the swallow see when it flies over the city?

Ans – When the swallow flew over the city he saw a great difference between rich and poor. He saw rich men enjoying life, unaware of the condition of the poor nearby. The swallow saw the worst conditions of life of the poor when they were denied even a proper sleep by police walking around the street.

Q5. Why did the swallow not leave the prince and go to Egypt?

Ans – As the Prince had given both of the two sapphires of his eyes to help the poor and needy, he had become blind. Therefore, the swallow decided to stay forever with the Prince and not to go to Egypt.

Q6. What are the precious things mentioned in the story? Why are they precious?

Ans – The two precious things mentioned in the story are the heart of the Prince which was made of lead and the dead swallow.
They are precious because both the Prince and the swallow were very kind, generous and selfless. The Prince could not bear to see the ugliness, misery and suffering in his city and gave away all his precious stones and gold to make his people happy.
Similarly, the swallow sacrificed going to Egypt and acted as the Prince's messenger, carrying the precious stones and gold to the needy and spreading happiness all around.




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