"To-night I go to Egypt," said the Swallow, and he was in
high spirits at the prospect.
He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on
top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows
chirruped, and said to each other,
"What a distinguished stranger!" so he enjoyed himself very
much.
When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.
"Have you any commissions for Egypt?" he cried; "I am
just starting."
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you
not stay with me one night longer?"
"I am waited for in Egypt," answered the Swallow.
"To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract.
The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on
a great granite throne sits the God Memnon. All night long
he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he
utters one cry of joy, and then he is silent. At noon the
yellow lions come down to the water's edge to drink. They
have eyes like green beryls, and their roar is louder than the
roar of the cataract."
 
 
 
 
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the prince, "far
away across the city I see a young man in a garret. He is
leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by
his side there is a bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown
and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has
large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play for the
Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any more.
There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him
faint."
"I will wait with you one night longer," said the Swallow,
who really had a good heart.
"Shall I take him another ruby?"
"Alas! I have no ruby now," said the Prince; "my eyes are
all that I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which
were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out
one of them and take it to him. He will sell it to the jeweller,
and buy food and firewood, and finish his play."
"Dear Prince," said the Swallow, "I cannot do that;" and he
began to weep.
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I
command you."
So the Swallow plucked out the Prince's eye, and flew away
to the student's garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there
was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came
into the room. The young man had his head buried in his
hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird's wings, and
when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on
the withered violets.
"I am beginning to be appreciated," he cried; "this is from
some great admirer. Now I can finish my play," and he
looked quite happy.
The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat
on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling
big chests out of the hold with ropes.
"Heave a-hoy!" they shouted as each chest came up.
"I am going to Egypt!" cried the Swallow, but nobody
minded, and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy
Prince.
"I am come to bid you good-bye," he cried.
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you
not stay with me one night longer?"
"It is winter," answered the Swallow, "and the chill snow
will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green
palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily
about them. My companions are building a nest in the
Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves are
watching them, and cooing to each other. Dear Prince, I
must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I
will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you
have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose,
and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea."
 
 
"In the square below," said the Happy Prince, "there stands
a little match-girl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter,
and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does
not bring home some money, and she is crying. She has no
shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare. Pluck out my
other eye, and give it to her, and her father will not beat
her."
"I will stay with you one night longer," said the Swallow,
"but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind
then."
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I
command you."
So he plucked out the Prince's other eye, and darted down
with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the
jewel into the palm of her hand.
"What a lovely bit of glass," cried the little girl; and she ran
home, laughing.
Then the Swallow came back to the Prince.
"You are blind now," he said, "so I will stay with you
always."
"No, little Swallow," said the poor Prince, "you must go
away to Egypt."
"I will stay with you always," said the Swallow, and he slept
at the Prince's feet.
All the next day he sat on the Prince's shoulder, and told him
stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of
the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the
Nile, and catch gold fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx, who is
as old as the world itself and lives in the desert, and knows
everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side of
their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the
King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as
ebony, and worships a large crystal; of the great green
snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to
feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who sail over a
big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the
butterflies.
"Dear little Swallow," said the Prince, "you tell me of
marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything is the
suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so
great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me
what you see there."
 
 
So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich
making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars
were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw
the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at
the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little
boys were lying in one another's arms to try and keep
themselves warm.
"How hungry we are!" they said.
"You must not lie here," shouted the Watchman, and they
wandered out into the rain.
Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.
"I am covered with fine gold," said the Prince, "you must
take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living
always think that gold can make them happy."
Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the
Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of
the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children's faces
grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the
street.
"We have bread now!" they cried.
 
Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost.
The streets looked as if they were made of silver, they were
so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung
down from the eaves of the houses, everybody went about in
furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the
ice.
The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would
not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up
crumbs outside the baker's door where the baker was not
looking, and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his
wings.
 
But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just
strength to fly up to the Prince's shoulder once more.
"Good-bye, dear Prince!" he murmured, "will you let me
kiss your hand?"
"I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little
Swallow," said the Prince, "you have stayed too long here;
but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you."
"It is not to Egypt that I am going," said the Swallow. "I am
going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is
he not?"
And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down
dead at his feet.
At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue,
as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart
had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard
frost. Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the
square below in company with the Town Councillors. As
they passed the column he looked up at the statue: "Dear
me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!" he said.
"How shabby indeed!" cried the Town Councillors, who
always agreed with the Mayor, and they went up to look at< /CENTER>
it.
"The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and
he is golden no longer," said the Mayor; "in fact, he is little
better than a beggar!"
"Little better than a beggar," said the Town councillors.
"And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!" continued the
Mayor. "We must really issue a proclamation that birds are
not to be allowed to die here."
And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.
So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince.
"As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful," said the
Art Professor at the University.
Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor
held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be
done with the metal. "We must have another statue, of
course," he said, "and it shall be a statue of myself."
"Of myself," said each of the Town Councillors, and they
quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were quarrelling
still.
"What a strange thing!" said the overseer of the workmen
at the foundry. "This broken lead heart will not melt in the
furnace. We must throw it away."
So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was
also lying.
"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," said
God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the
leaden heart and the dead bird.
"You have rightly chosen," said God, "for in my garden of
Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my
city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me."
 

  Okay okay, I know your getting impatient now.... so we can stop here :O) hehehee
                  Now its time for you to open the rest of your present!!!! :O)