Book Review #20 – “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” by Oscar Wilde (Fairy Tales for All Ages)

Book Review #20 – “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” by Oscar Wilde, published 1888.

“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 righty 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.” (The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde).

Brief Bio of the Author Oscar Wilde. It’s no secret that the brilliant Irish author Oscar Wilde was a tortured soul. He would alternate between submitting to his inner demons of decadence and sensuality, and then reveal his inner angels with the likes of his highly acclaimed fairy tales highlighted in this article. Here was a man born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, to highly intellectual parents who were social activists, and a man who flirted with Christianity, particularly with the Catholic Church all his life. Here is a thoughtful, intense person who read and loved the Scripture, especially the Greek New Testament. And yet, his one foot in the door of the Christian faith was not enough to somehow affect his chosen lifestyle, both private and public, which hardly do the gospels justice. When in jail close to the end of his life, Wilde reflected constantly on Jesus and his imprisonment, on how he saw in Jesus Christ that “the life of suffering is a holy ground.” Oscar Wilde was certainly a highly complex enigma, a man who sought art for art’s sake and not even considering that art had any moral dimension in the least. And he was a man who thought of Jesus as the “ultimate artist” who was truly good and yet chose to life his life inconsistent with what he saw in Jesus. Oscar Wilde chose to live a contrary life, a lifestyle of behaving in a way that was contrary to gospel values and also to what was expected in his Victorian society. The Catholic priest who gave Wilde his last rites on his death bed expressed this life of dichotomy by giving Oscar Wilde last rites with the prayers of blessing, but without formal baptism or Communion.

Background of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales. Wilde’s bedtime children’s stories in his “Happy Prince and Other Tales” published in 1888, was apparently out of character for Wilde, a dramatic change in the very adult genres of his usually literary works. He was a prominent author of novels, dramas, poetry, essays on art and aesthetics, all of it very complex. And yet, right into the middle of his publicly approved writings, out he comes with some of the most poignant, youthful, compassionate, heartfelt stories ever written in the English language. He wasn’t aware of moral considerations for the most part in early works, and then here is writing fairy tales in the moral tradition. At one point Wilde said that writing these bedtime stories for children were “an interesting break” for his usual style of writing and thinking. He said his fairy tales “allowed him to flex his creativity” and were a “creative challenge.” Evidently he composed these stories first for him to read to his two boys at bedtime, his sons being three and two at the time. But then he saw that the deeper reasons for his fairy tales were his intent on writing for a completely audience… “My stories were partly intended for children, but also for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.” And so he composed these children’s stories with the intention that be read aloud in the age-old oral tradition.

And so I present to you these wonderful stories full of Christ figures, imaginative pictures of selflessness, highlighting everything from friendship to kindness to the sacrifices of true love.

(1.) The Happy Prince: For those who choose a read aloud:  The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde – Full Audiobook | Bedtime Stories

And for those who choose more of a visual approach, here’s a video version withe same audio track:

The Happy Prince By Oscar Wilde (Annimation)

(2.) The Nightingale and the Rose: This is actually a rather tragic, sad tale, so take time to preocess the story when reading aloud.

For those who want to read it, here is the link:

Short Stories: The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde (eastoftheweb.com)

Those of you who want to have it read to you, here is the link:

The Nightingale And The Rose (youtube.com)

(3.) The Selfish Giant: For a beautiful, animated video of the story…  The Selfish Giant (1971)

For the audio version of the story…  The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde | Full Audiobook

(4.) The Devoted Friend:   For the audio version…  The Devoted Friend by Oscar Wilde – Full Audiobook | Short Stories

For a video version… The Devoted Friend – A Strange and Sad Little Story by Oscar Wilde (Sad Story Warning)

(5.) The Remarkable Rocket:   For the animated video… Oscar Wilde’s THE REMARKABLE ROCKET | Animated Adaptation (1975) narrated by David Niven

For the audio version… The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde – Full Audiobook | Bedtime Stories