The Happy Prince 

 Q. What was the body of the Happy prince covered with?

 Ans. Thin leaves of gold.

 

 Q. what did the statue of the Happy prince see that made it cry?

 Ans. The sorrows and sufferings of people

 

 Q. What did the Prince want the swallow to take to the seamstress?

 Ans. The Ruby from his sword hilt.

 

 Q. Where did the statue of happy prince stand?

 Ans. On a tall column, high above the city.

 

 Q. Who decided to pull the statue of Happy Prince down?

 Ans. The Mayors and Town Councillors.

 

 Q. why did the swallow decide to stay with the Happy Prince?

 Ans. To help in his noble work.

 

 Q. Who saw the tears in the eyes of the statue of the Happy Prince?

 Ans. The swallow.

 

 Q. Who was lying ill in the bed?

 Ans. The seamstress’s son.

 

Objective Type Questions

 

 

The Happy Prince is both the protagonist of this story and its namesake. He was the prince who led a life of pleasure, was turned into a gilded statue upon his death and placed upon a pedestal overlooking his town. The Prince is described as exceedingly beautiful with golden skin, sapphires for eyes, and a ruby on his sword-hilt. Although his external beauty impresses everyone around him, his true worth lies in his compassion for his townspeople and his willingness to sacrifice for them. The Happy Prince suffers, however, due to his sympathy for all of the misery, he can see from his high column The “happiness” of this name is thus ironic, as the Prince describes having only experienced a false happiness in his previous life of pleasure, when he was ignorant of the true misery surrounding him. The Prince is ultimately a Christ-like figure, looking over humanity and sacrificing his life to alleviate their pain The Happy Prince loved his people very much. He was very kind hearted. He could not bear their sufferings. He gave away the all what he had for the poor and needy persons. The Prince saw a poor little boy who was lying on the bed. He was asking for oranges from his mother but she had no money. The prince asked the swallow to pluck out the ruby from his sword hilt and give it to the poor woman. Then the Prince saw a poor young man who was a writer. He asked the swallow to pluck out one of the sapphires from his eyes and take it to the young man. Then the Prince gave away the other sapphires for the poor match girl. The prince became blind now .But he was happy at heart. The statue of happy Prince was covered with fine gold. He asked the swallow to take off this gold leaf by leaf and give it to the poor. He had given all his sapphires, Ruby and gold and God blessed the Happy prince for his love for people

 

The story has been taken from the book “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” which was published in 1888. It contains five stories: - The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket. Oscar Wilde was an Anglo Irish Play Wright, Novelist, Poet and Critic. The story of Happy Prince dwells upon the theme like social injustice, redemptive power of love and loss of innocence. This is a story about the statue of Happy Prince and a little swallow. The Happy Prince was a beautiful statue stood on a tall column high above the city. One day, a swallow who was going to Egypt to meet his friends, took shelter under the statue and discovered that the Prince was not happy, but very sad. The statue of Happy Prince was covered all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two beautiful sapphires and a large red ruby glowed on his sword hilt. The statue of happy prince looked beautiful and everyone in the city loved to see their Prince. Since he was placed high above the city on a tall column, The prince was able to witness all the sorrows and sufferings which the common people faced in their daily life. But the Prince remained ignorant of them during his lifetime. This made the Prince very sad. His eyes got watered and large drops of tears began to run down his golden cheeks. A little swallow, who had alighted between the feet of the Happy Prince to spend the night there, became curious to know where the drops of water fell from. He looked up and saw the eyes of the Happy Prince full of tears. The bird took pity on the Prince and became ready to assist him in his desire to ease the sufferings of the common people. He became the messenger of the Prince and agreed to remove the fine gold and jewels from his statue to distribute them among the poor and the needy. He started with plucking the ruby from the Prince’s sword and giving it to the seamstress who had no money to feed her ailing child. Then he plucked a sapphire from one of the eyes of the statue and gave it to the playwright who was too poor to make fire in the winter to continue his writing. He was also very hungry and feeling weak. One day, the Prince saw a match girl who had let her matches in the gutter, and they were spoiled. She feared that her father would beat her if she did not bring home some money. The Prince’s heart filled with pity for the girl. He immediately commanded the swallow to pluck out his other eye and help the girl. But the swallow was not ready to do so because this would make the Prince completely blind. On being insisted, he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, swooped past the match girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. The little bird decided not to leave the company of the Happy Prince who had gone blind now. Although the Prince was not able to see the sorrows or sufferings any more, he knew it was there. So he instructed the bird to take off the fine gold he was covered with and give it to the poor. The bird followed his words and picked off leaf after leaf of the gold, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Then the snow came and the poor little swallow grew older and colder. But he did not leave the Prince. Eventually, he grew weak and died from exposure and exhaustion. Just at that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. It was, in fact, the leaden heart that had snapped right in two at the loss of the sweet and kind swallow. The statue was no more beautiful and useful. It stood deserted. So, the Town Councilors and the Mayor pulled it down. Then they melted the statue in a furnace but the broken heart did not melt. So, they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead swallow was lying. When God asked one of His Angels to bring the two most precious things in the city, the Angel brought him the leaden heart and the dead bird. God welcomed the two in His garden of Paradise and deemed them beautiful creations.