SHORT STORIES, LONG SHADOWS · B2/C1 · 50 min

The Happy Prince

Oscar Wilde's fairy tale of a golden statue, a small swallow, and everything they give away.

Need an easier version? Read this story at A2/B1 level →

Today: you'll retell one of the most tender stories ever written — a jewelled statue and a little bird who choose to give everything away — and you'll master the structures that let you build a person, place or thing into a single flowing sentence: relative clauses.

Warm up — talk before you read. Think about these questions and answer them out loud in a sentence or two each. There are no wrong answers — they're here to open the door to the story.

Before we begin:

Is it possible to be truly happy if you can see other people suffering nearby? Where does that leave the rest of us?
Think of something beautiful that you would never want to damage. Now imagine it slowly losing its beauty for a good reason. Would that make it worth more, or less?
Who tends to notice suffering first — the people high above a city, or the people down in its streets?

Now — the words for today's story

Each new word is hidden in a sentence. Read it aloud and say what you think the bold word means from the rest of the sentence — then reveal it and see how close you were.

1. High above the square stood a statue of the old king, cast in metal and set on a tall stone column so that everyone could see it.

a statue (n) — a figure of a person or animal made from stone, metal or wood, usually life-size or larger.

2. The whole surface of the figure was covered in thin sheets of gilded metal, so that it shone like solid gold in the sun.

gilded (adj) — covered with a thin layer of gold, or of something that looks like gold.

3. Set into the sword hilt was a single red ruby, a precious stone that glowed like a drop of fire.

a ruby (n) — a deep-red precious stone, worth a great deal of money.

4. Its two eyes were made of bright blue sapphires, jewels so clear and deep that they seemed almost alive.

a sapphire (n) — a precious stone, usually deep blue, prized for its colour and clarity.

5. A small swallow, one of the last birds still to fly south for the winter, landed to rest between the statue's feet.

a swallow (n) — a small, fast bird with long, pointed wings that flies to warmer countries in winter.

6. The dressmaker was so poverty-stricken that she could not buy medicine, and her thin coat hung on a nail by the cold hearth.

poverty (n) — the state of being very poor, without enough money for basic needs.

7. Moved by the sight, the boy felt a wave of compassion and quietly gave the beggar his own lunch.

compassion (n) — a deep feeling of sympathy for others' suffering, together with a wish to help.

8. Giving up his warm bed to a stranger was a real sacrifice — he gave up his own comfort so that someone else could be well.

a sacrifice (n) — the giving up of something valuable for the sake of someone or something else.

9. By spring the statue looked so shabby — dull, bare and worn — that the councillors were ashamed to keep it standing.

shabby (adj) — worn out and in poor condition; no longer smart or beautiful.

10. The mayor and the town councillors, the officials who governed the city, walked through the square deciding what to do next.

a councillor (n) — an elected or appointed member of a council; one of the officials who run a town or city.

Now use them — out loud

Talk it through before we read:

Using statue, gilded, ruby and swallow, predict: what do you think this story will be about?
Which of these words go with wealth and beauty, and which go with need and kindness? Sort them out loud and say why.

The story, in three parts

Read each part. After it, there's a quick comprehension check (try the questions from memory first), then one thing to discuss.

Part 1 — The statue and the swallow

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold; for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. Everyone admired him. "He is as beautiful as a weathercock," remarked one of the town councillors who wished to be thought a man of taste.

One night a little swallow, who had stayed behind after all the others had flown to warm Egypt, landed between the statue's feet to sleep. Just as he tucked his head under his wing, a drop of water fell on him. Then another. He looked up and saw the eyes of the Happy Prince, from which tears were running down the golden cheeks.

"Who are you?" said the swallow. The statue answered that when he was alive he had lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter, and he had never known that people wept. "Now that I am dead," he said, "they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead, I cannot choose but weep." Far away, in a poor house, he could see a tired woman, a seamstress whose sick little boy was asking for oranges she could not afford to buy.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. What was the statue of the Happy Prince made from, and what jewels did it have?

2. Why was the Happy Prince weeping, even though nothing was wrong when he was alive?

1. He was covered in thin gold (gilded); he had two sapphires for eyes and a large ruby on his sword-hilt.

2. When alive he lived shut away from all sorrow, but now, set up high, he can see all the poverty and unhappiness of the city and cannot help weeping.

Discuss:

The Prince only understood suffering once he could see the whole city. Do we sometimes need distance to notice what is right in front of us?

Part 2 — Giving everything away

The Prince asked the swallow to be his messenger. "Will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt?" he begged. The swallow did not want to stay — his friends were already in Egypt — but he was moved by the Prince's tears. He carried the great ruby across the city and laid it beside the sleeping woman, then fanned the sick boy's forehead with his wings until the child felt cooler and slept peacefully.

Night after night the Prince found more need below him, and the swallow, who had meant to leave, stayed on. For a young writer, cold and hungry in his attic, the Prince gave one sapphire eye. For a little match-girl who had dropped her matches in the gutter, he gave the other, so that now the Prince was blind, and the swallow would not leave a friend who could no longer see. "I will stay with you always," said the swallow, and he slept at the Prince's feet.

So the swallow flew over the whole city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses while the beggars sat at the gates. Leaf by leaf, he stripped the fine gold from the Happy Prince and carried it to the poor, until the living children's faces grew rosier and they laughed and played in the street. The statue, once so dazzling, was now grey and dull and shabby.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. What did the Prince give away first, and to whom?

2. What happened to the Prince's two sapphire eyes, and why did the swallow decide to stay?

1. He gave the ruby from his sword-hilt to the poor seamstress whose little boy was ill.

2. He gave one sapphire to a struggling young writer and the other to a poor match-girl; now the Prince was blind, and the swallow chose to stay so as not to leave a blind friend.

Discuss:

The swallow keeps meaning to leave, yet stays. Is that weakness, or is it the truest kind of loyalty?

Part 3 — Two hearts, and what they were worth

Winter came, and it grew bitterly cold. The little swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, whom he now loved too much. He gathered his last strength to fly up and kiss the Happy Prince goodbye. "You have stayed too long," said the Prince gently, "but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you." The swallow kissed him and fell down, and at that moment a strange crack sounded inside the statue: the leaden heart of the Prince had broken in two.

The next morning the mayor and the councillors passed below. "How shabby the Happy Prince looks!" they said, for the ruby had fallen from his sword, his eyes were gone, and he was golden no longer. "He is little better than a beggar." So they pulled the statue down and melted it in a furnace — but the broken lead heart would not melt, and was thrown away on a dust-heap where the dead swallow was also lying.

Then God asked one of his angels to bring him the two most precious things in the city, 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." So the two who had given everything were, at the last, the only ones the story counts as rich.

Quick check — answer from memory, then reveal:

1. What happened to the swallow and to the Prince's heart on that last cold night?

2. How did the story judge the Prince and the swallow at the end, compared with how the councillors judged them?

1. The swallow, too cold and too devoted to leave, kissed the Prince and died at his feet; at that moment the Prince's lead heart cracked in two.

2. The councillors saw only a shabby, worthless statue and a dead bird; but in the story's final judgement the leaden heart and the little bird are named the two most precious things in the whole city.

Discuss:

The councillors and the angel look at exactly the same objects and reach opposite verdicts. What is Wilde saying about how we measure worth?

Grammar — relative clauses

Wilde's story is full of people and things that need a second detail: the prince who wept, the ruby which glowed on his sword, the poor whom he helped. A relative clause lets you fold that detail into the same sentence instead of starting a new one.

The relative pronouns:
• who / whom — for people. who = the subject ("the swallow who stayed"); whom = the object ("the woman whom he helped").
• which — for things and animals ("the ruby which glowed").
• that — for people or things, in defining clauses only ("the gold that he gave away").
• whose — for possession ("the seamstress whose son was ill").

Defining vs non-defining — the key difference:
• A defining clause tells you which one — it's essential, so no commas: "The bird that gave up Egypt stayed with the Prince." (Which bird? That one.)
• A non-defining clause adds extra, non-essential information and goes between commas: "The swallow, who had missed the flight south, slept at the Prince's feet." (There's only one swallow; the clause is a bonus detail.)
• In non-defining clauses you cannot use that, and you cannot drop the pronoun.

1. Choose the relative pronoun

Complete each sentence with who, whom, which or whose.

1. The Prince, heart was made of lead, wept over his city.

2. The ruby glowed on his sword-hilt was the first gift he gave.

3. The seamstress, the swallow visited, could not afford oranges for her son.

1. whose (possession — the Prince's heart)

2. which (a thing — the ruby)

3. whom (a person, and the object of "visited")

2. Defining or non-defining? Add commas if they are needed

Decide whether the relative clause is extra information (non-defining, needs commas) or essential (defining, no commas). Write commas or no commas, and say why.

1. The swallow who had stayed behind after the others flew south rested at the statue's feet. →

2. The Happy Prince which stood high above the city could see every poor street. →

3. He gave the gold to the children who were hungry. →

1. no commas — defining: it tells us which swallow (the one that stayed).

2. commas, and change which to who — there is only one Happy Prince, so the clause is extra information: "The Happy Prince, who stood high above the city, could see…" (also, use who for the person.)

3. no commas — defining: it tells us which children (the hungry ones).

3. Join the pairs into one sentence

Combine each pair using a relative clause. Read your sentence aloud, then reveal one possible answer.

1. The swallow was a small bird. It carried the ruby across the city. →

2. The young writer was cold and hungry. The Prince gave him a sapphire. →

3. The councillors melted down the statue. Its heart would not melt. →

1. The swallow, which carried the ruby across the city, was a small bird. (non-defining — one particular swallow)

2. The young writer, whom the Prince gave a sapphire, was cold and hungry. (or: … to whom the Prince gave a sapphire)

3. The councillors melted down the statue, whose heart would not melt. (possession — the statue's heart)

Hold on to these — you'll need them in the Speak tab, where relative clauses let you retell the whole story in rich, connected sentences.

Going deeper

Now that you know the story, let's sit with what it means. Wilde wrote it for children, but its questions are grown-up ones — and they don't have neat answers.

Why this story still moves people. Oscar Wilde published The Happy Prince in 1888, and it has never been out of print since. On the surface it is a simple fairy tale; underneath, it quietly turns our ideas of wealth and beauty upside down. The Prince is at his most beautiful when he is covered in gold and jewels — yet he only becomes good as he gives that beauty away and grows shabby. By the ending, the two figures the world throws on a rubbish-heap are the two the story calls the most precious things in the city. It is a gentle, deliberately bittersweet tale: kindness costs the Prince and the swallow everything, and Wilde does not pretend otherwise. That honesty is exactly why it lasts.

Talk it through:

The title. The Prince is called "happy," yet we mostly see him weep. In what sense, if any, is he happy — and has his idea of happiness changed by the end?
Beauty and worth. The statue is dazzling at the start and shabby at the end. Wilde seems to argue that the shabby version is worth more. Do you agree that what a thing does can matter more than how it looks?
The ending. The Prince and the swallow both come to a quiet end, and the councillors throw their remains away — yet the very last word of the story is a kind of reward. Does that ending feel sad to you, hopeful, or both at once? Why do you think Wilde chose to end it that way?
What would you have done? The swallow could have flown to warm Egypt at any time and lived. Would you have stayed, as he did — and where is the line between admirable loyalty and simply not looking after yourself?

Speak

This is the heart of the lesson — do all of it out loud. The timer is there to keep you going: fill the time with detail rather than rushing.

Useful language: use relative clauses to connect your ideas — who / whom for people ("the swallow who stayed", "the woman whom he helped"), which / that for things ("the ruby which glowed"), whose for possession ("the Prince whose heart broke"). For opinions, reach for: "What's striking is…", "You could argue that…", "It's no accident that…", "On one level… but on another…".

Time remaining: 4:00

Task A · Retell the story (4 minutes)

Tell the story of The Happy Prince in your own words, as if to someone who has never heard it. Move through the arc: the golden statue high above the city → the little swallow who stayed behind → the ruby, then the two sapphires, then the gold, all given to the poor → the cold night and the two broken hearts → the final judgement that they were the most precious things in the city.

Connect your sentences with relative clauses (who, whom, which, that, whose) and work in at least five key words (statue, gilded, ruby, sapphires, swallow, poverty, compassion, sacrifice, shabby, councillors).

Task B · Was it worth it? (4 minutes)

The Prince gave away his gold and jewels, and the swallow gave up his life, to help strangers they would never meet again. Build an argument: was this a wise and admirable thing to do, or a waste of two lives? Should we praise people who sacrifice everything for others — or should we ask them to hold something back? Decide where you stand, and say why.

Task C · Beauty vs. usefulness (4 minutes)

Wilde suggests a thing can be worth more once it has been used up for others. Talk about this idea in the wider world.

Choose one of these and run with it:

A building, an object or a work of art that you think is valued for the wrong reasons — too much for how it looks, too little for what it does.
A person in history or the news who gave up wealth, comfort or fame to help others. What did they give, and what did it cost?
A charity or a cause you admire — describe the people it helps, using relative clauses ("the families who…", "the children whose…").
The idea that a city's leaders should be able to "see" its poorest streets. How could a modern city make sure its decision-makers really notice need?
Something precious you own that would become more meaningful, not less, if you gave it away.

To finish — the bigger questions

The Prince could only weep for the city once he was set high enough to see all of it. In your own life, what helps you notice the needs of people you'd normally walk straight past?
The councillors judged the statue "shabby" and worthless; the story judged it precious. Whose way of measuring value is closer to your own — and has this story shifted it at all?
Wilde could have written a happy ending where the Prince and the swallow are saved. Why do you think he didn't — and would the story be stronger or weaker if he had?
Before you go — from memory: give one sentence with a defining relative clause and one with a non-defining relative clause (remember the commas), both about this story, and explain the difference between them.