PLOT
The Happy Prince is a statue of gold and jewels which looks down on a city. But he is not as happy as the people think. When a small bird shelters under his figure, she realises that the statue is crying. She helps him put right some of the poverty in his city, with the jewels from his beltand his eyes, and the gold leaf that covers him. She then stays with him because he is blind. However, she cannotsurvive the winter and, when she freezes to death, the Happy Prince’s metal heart cracks. Both bird and prince are taken into heaven as the two best things in the city.
EXERCISE
1 In The Happy Prince, to whom did the bird give:
(a) the red jewel?
(b) the first blue jewel?
(c) the second blue jewel?
(d) the gold?
2 Why did the bird stay with the prince after taking the second
blue jewel?
3 When did the prince’s heart break?
4 What happened to the bird and the prince after they died?
Cándida Gallardo