Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Foreign language (English) > Classical stories of the world

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The Prince of Happiness

(Wilde's Fairy Tales)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

Make Origami ( ORIGAMI CLUB) Swallow

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　Once upon a time, there was a beautiful statue of "the Prince of happiness" in a town.

　The body of "the Prince of happiness" was coated with glittering gold leaf.

　Its blue eyes were made of sapphire and the sword on its waist had a big ruby on it.

　The townspeople wished themselves happiness as this beautiful Prince represented.

　In the evening of a cold day when the winter was just around the corner,

　a swallow flew to the town.

“Phew! I'm left far behind. I wonder if my fellows have already arrived in Egypt.

　I'll rest here and hit the road tomorrow.”

　The swallow perched on the Prince's foot and tried to sleep there.

　Then, some waterdrops fell onto him.

“Is it raining? It’s strange because there’s no cloud in the sky… Oh, the Prince is crying. 　Hello, what’s the matter?”

　The swallow asked and then the Prince answered,

“Since I’ve been up here, I can see the sad things happening all over the town.

　But there’s nothing I can do to help them. So I’m crying.”

“Sad things?”

“See the small house there? The boy is sick and crying, saying he wants to eat some oranges.

　Though his mother works hard, she can’t afford them.”

“Oh, poor thing.”

“Mr. Swallow, please do me a favor. Can you bring the ruby on my sword to him?”

“Sure. I’ll do it.”

　The swallow removed the ruby from the sword on the Prince’s waist and put it beside his pillow.

“I know you’ve been through a hard time, but hang in there.”

　The swallow fanned his wings at him and flew back.

　When he returned to the Prince, the swallow noticed something different.

“It’s strange. It’s so cold out here but I feel warm.”

“It’s because you did a good deed, Mr. Swallow.”


　The next day, the Prince asked the swallow a favor again.

“Can you bring one of the sapphires in my eyes to a poor and talented young guy?”

“But it’s about time for me to leave now.”

“I’m begging you. Just this once. Please, Mr. Swallow.”

“Ok…”

　When the swallow brought the sapphire, the young guy was so glad with his starry eyes.

“Now I can buy some bread! I can finish writing my book!”


　The next day, the swallow finally decided to hit the road.

　And he said goodbye to the Prince.

“Prince, I’m going to Egypt where there are my fellows.

　Egypt is so warm and has a lot of sunshine.”

　But the Prince asked the swallow a favor again.

“Can you please stay one more night? There is a girl who tries to sell matches in the street.

　She knew she was going to be hit by his father if she didn’t make money, but she dropped all the matches she had.

　So, I want you to bring the other sapphire to her.”

“In that case, you will be blind, Prince.”

“I don’t care if I go blind or not as long as the girl gets happy.”

“Prince…”

　Looking at the Prince who had lost his eyes for people’s happiness, the swallow made a decision.

“Prince, I won’t go anywhere. I’ll stay with you.

　And I’ll be your eyes.”

“Thank you, Mr. Swallow.”

　The swallow got to fly around the town and he told the Prince about the poor people’s lives he saw.

“Then, can you peel off all the gold on my body and give it to the poor people”

“Yes, sir.”

　As he was told, the swallow peeled off the gold from the Prince’s body and brought it to the poor.

　After a while, there was snow falling from the sky.

　At last, winter came.

　The swallow was so sensitive to the cold that he was chilled to the bone and couldn’t move.

“I think this is it. Goodbye, Prince. I was happy to be of help to people.

　The swallow managed to kiss the Prince, he finally died.

　Snap!

　At the same time, the Prince’s heart popped with sorrow.

　The next morning, the townspeople noticed that the statue of "the Prince of happiness" had gotten dirty.

“Let’s melt the Prince that’s no longer beautiful.

　Mysteriously, however, the Prince’s heart wasn’t melted at all no matter what they did.

　Then the heart of the Prince was abandoned with the dead swallow beside him.

　Later on, God and an angel came to this town.

“Angel, bring the most beautiful thing in this town,” God told the angel.

　In fact, what the angel brought was the Prince’s heart and the dead swallow.

　Looking at them, God nodded.

“Well done! These are exactly the most beautiful things in this town.

　The Prince and the swallow really did good things. I’ll take these two to Heaven.”

　After all, the Prince and swallow who helped people and died went to Heaven and lived happily ever after.

The end

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