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The Happy Prince and Other Tales (or Stories) is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Selfish Giant," "The Devoted Friend," and "The Remarkable Rocket." In 2003, the second through fourth stories were adapted by Lupus Films and Terraglyph Interactive Studios into the three-part series Wilde Stories for Channel 4. Contents The Happy Prince In a town full of suffering poor people, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince," who has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow was not allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the gold leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The people, unaware of their good deeds, take the statue down from the pillar due to its shabbiness (intending to replace it with one of the Mayor) and melt the metal in a furnace, leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow, which are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an Angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God, and they live forever in His "city of gold" and garden of Paradise. Adaptations A radio drama adaption by Columbia Workshop was broadcast on 26 December 1936. In 1941 Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre broadcast a version on their "Christmas Show," with music by Bernard Herrmann. Another radio version was broadcast in the Philco Radio Hall of Fame on 24 December 1944. This featured Orson Welles (narrator), Bing Crosby (as The Prince) and Lurene Tuttle as The Swallow. A record album called The Happy Prince was recorded on 21 August 1945 and issued in 1946 by American Decca Records, with Orson Welles narrating and Bing Crosby as the Prince. In 1968 the British group Bee Gees published the song "When the Swallows fly" with clear references to The Happy Prince tale. In 1969 New Zealand group The La De Das recorded and performed a rock opera based on the story. Band members Bruce Howard and Trevor Wilson conceived the idea in 1967, composing the music with Australian poet Adrian Rawlins narrating the story. Canadian producer Michael Mills, created an animated film adaptation of the story in 1974 starring Glynis Johns as the swallow and Christopher Plummer as the Prince. A major story arc in Journey to the West II presented the tale as the backstory of two antagonists. The Python Demon Queen (Angie Cheung) who is in love with the Long Armed Ape Monkey (Derek Kok), explained that she was once a swallow besotted with his statue of gold, and later helped the suffering commoners by stripping the statue of its treasures and distributing it. Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child presented a version of the title story set in New York City featuring Ed Koch as the Happy Prince (who was the statue of the city's previous mayor) and Cyndi Lauper as a streetwise pigeon named "Pidge" (in place of the Swallow). Leo the Lion Records released a reading of the story performed by Richard Kiley on a recording (#GD01603) including a dramatization of "The Magic Fishbone" by Charles Dickens featuring Julie Harris and Ian Martin and a reading of Rudyard Kipling's story "The Potted Princess" performed by Ms. Harris. McDull, Prince de la Bun was partially based on this story. In 2012 the Irish composer Vincent Kennedy and playwright John Nee adapted the story for narrator, chorus and orchestra. "The Happy Prince" was premiered in County Donegal, Ireland, in April 2012 with Nee narrating and acting and Kennedy conducting and performing. It was broadcast on RTÉ Jr Radio. A chamber musical, by Sue Casson, based on the story first toured Britain in 1992, touring again for its 20th anniversary 2012 - 2014. Original cast recording featuring John Barr as the Happy Prince and Mina Anwar as the Swallow released in 1993 on Dress Circle Records.[1] Music for Oscar Wilde's "Happy Prince" from his book "The Happy Prince and Other Tales", composed by Edvard Schiffauer, c.2000 In 2016, British-Canadian composer Tony Matthews composed an operetta version for children which premiered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on 4 December 2016. In the fall of 2020, a "Rock Reading" dramatic presentation of the story was performed for the Theatre 1010 in Tokyo Japan. It starred Motodaka Katsuki as the titular prince and Konno Taiki as the swallow, both of the J-pop boyband 7 Men Samurai. The visual novel "Sakura no Uta" makes various references to The Happy Prince. In 2023, "The Happy Prince", a musical by well-known musical director and writer David W. Young, was performed at Metro Arts New Benner Theatre, in West End, Brisbane on the 19 and 20 May 2023. The Nightingale and the Rose This story is an allegory of the moral decay and materialism of the age. A nightingale overhears a student complaining that the professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose; a lizard, a butterfly and a daisy laugh at the student for doing so. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the roses tells her there is a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night with her heart pressing into a thorn, sacrificing her life. Seeing the student in tears, and valuing his human life above her bird life, the nightingale carries out the ritual and dies painfully. The student takes the rose to the professor's daughter, but she again rejects him because the Chamberlain's nephew has sent her some real jewels, and "everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers." The student angrily throws the rose into the gutter, returns to his study of metaphysics, and decides not to believe in true love anymore. Adaptations There are many adaptations of this story in the form of operas and ballets. These include: A cantata by Henry Hadley, an American composer and conductor, The Nightingale and the Rose, libretto E. W. Grant, Op. 54, S, SSAA, orchestra (New York, 1911) An opera by Hooper Brewster-Jones, an Australian composer, The Nightingale and the Rose, 1927, of which only an orchestral suite survives. A ballet by English composer Harold Fraser-Simson, The Nightingale and the Rose, (based on Wilde) (1927) One-act opera Rosa rossa, Op. 18, by Italian composer Renzo Rinaldo Bossi (1883–1965), libretto by Bossi, after Wilde: The Nightingale and the Rose, Radio Turin, 9 August 1938; staged Teatro Regio (Parma), 9 January 1940. A ballet by Latvian-Canadian composer Jānis Kalniņš, Lakstigala un roze [The Nightingale.... Discover the Alexis Deacon popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alexis Deacon books.