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<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Happy Prince, by Oscar Wilde</div>
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<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Happy Prince<br />
and Other Tales</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Oscar Wilde</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Walter Crane</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 6, 1997 [eBook #902]<br />
[Most recently updated: October 25, 2021]</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
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<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Price and Paul Redmond</div>
<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HAPPY PRINCE ***</div>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/coverb.jpg">
<img alt=
"Book cover"
title=
"Book cover"
src="images/covers.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/fpb.jpg">
<img alt=
"The Happy Prince"
title=
"The Happy Prince"
src="images/fps.jpg" />
</a></p>
<h1>The Happy Prince<br />
And Other Tales</h1>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br
/>
OSCAR WILDE</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">ILLUSTRATED
BY</span><br />
WALTER CRANE AND JACOMB HOOD</p>
<div class="gapspace"> </div>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">SEVENTH
IMPRESSION</span></p>
<div class="gapspace"> </div>
<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br />
DAVID NUTT, 57–59 LONG ACRE<br />
1910</p>
<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
<tr>
<td> First Edition</td> <td>May 1888</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Second Impression</td> <td>January 1889</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Third Impression</td> <td>February 1902</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Fourth Impression</td> <td>September 1905</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Fifth Impression</td> <td>February 1907</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Sixth Impression</td> <td>March 1908</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> Seventh Impression</td> <td>March 1910</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="gapspace"> </div>
<p style="text-align: center"><i>TO</i><br />
<i>CARLOS BLACKER</i></p>
<div class="gapspace"> </div>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p0b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of children"
title=
"Decorative graphic of children"
src="images/p0s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<h2>Contents.</h2>
<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
<tr>
<td> <a href="#chap01">The Happy Prince</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#chap02">The Nightingale and the Rose</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#chap03">The Selfish Giant</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#chap04">The Devoted Friend</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#chap05">The Remarkable Rocket</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="chap01"></a>The Happy Prince.</h2>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p3b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Woman opening window and seeing bird"
title=
"Woman opening window and seeing bird"
src="images/p3s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p><span class="smcap">High</span> 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.</p>
<p>He was very much admired indeed. “He is as
beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town
Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic
tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing
lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was
not.</p>
<p>“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?”
asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the
moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for
anything.”</p>
<p>“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite
happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the
wonderful statue.</p>
<p>“He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity
Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright
scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.</p>
<p>“How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master,
“you have never seen one.”</p>
<p>“Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the
children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very
severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.</p>
<p>One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His
friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had
stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful
Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying
down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted
by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.</p>
<p>“Shall I love you?” said the Swallow, who liked to
come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow.
So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his
wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship,
and it lasted all through the summer.</p>
<p>“It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the
other Swallows; “she has no money, and far too many
relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of
Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.</p>
<p>After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his
lady-love. “She has no conversation,” he said,
“and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always
flirting with the wind.” And certainly, whenever the
wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys.
“I admit that she is domestic,” he continued,
“but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should
love travelling also.”</p>
<p>“Will you come away with me?” he said finally to
her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her
home.</p>
<p>“You have been trifling with me,” he cried.
“I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!” and he
flew away.</p>
<p>All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the
city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I
hope the town has made preparations.”</p>
<p>Then he saw the statue on the tall column.</p>
<p>“I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a
fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he
alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.</p>
<p>“I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to
himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but
just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of
water fell on him. “What a curious thing!” he
cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars
are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The
climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed
used to like the rain, but that was merely her
selfishness.”</p>
<p>Then another drop fell.</p>
<p>“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain
off?” he said; “I must look for a good
chimney-pot,” and he determined to fly away.</p>
<p>But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he
looked up, and saw—Ah! what did he see?</p>
<p>The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears
were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so
beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled
with pity.</p>
<p>“Who are you?” he said.</p>
<p>“I am the Happy Prince.”</p>
<p>“Why are you weeping then?” asked the Swallow;
“you have quite drenched me.”</p>
<p>“When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered
the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in
the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to
enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the
garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great
Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never
cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so
beautiful. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and
happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived,
and so I died. And now that I am dead 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 yet I cannot
chose but weep.”</p>
<p>“What! is he not solid gold?” said the Swallow to
himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out
loud.</p>
<p>“Far away,” continued the statue in a low musical
voice, “far away in a little street there is a poor
house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see
a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and
she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is
a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-flowers on a
satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour
to wear at the next Court-ball. In a bed in the corner of
the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and
is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him
but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little
Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my
sword-hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I
cannot move.”</p>
<p>“I am waited for in Egypt,” said the
Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile,
and talking to the large lotus-flowers. Soon they will go
to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there
himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow
linen, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain
of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered
leaves.”</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “will you not stay with me for one night, and be my
messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so
sad.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think I like boys,” answered the
Swallow. “Last summer, when I was staying on the
river, there were two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who
were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of
course; we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I
come of a family famous for its agility; but still, it was a mark
of disrespect.”</p>
<p>But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was
sorry. “It is very cold here,” he said;
“but I will stay with you for one night, and be your
messenger.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, little Swallow,” said the Prince.</p>
<p>So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the
Prince’s sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the
roofs of the town.</p>
<p>He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble
angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard
the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the
balcony with her lover. “How wonderful the stars
are,” he said to her, “and how wonderful is the power
of love!”</p>
<p>“I hope my dress will be ready in time for the
State-ball,” she answered; “I have ordered
passion-flowers to be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are
so lazy.”</p>
<p>He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the
masts of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the
old Jews bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in
copper scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked
in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the
mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped,
and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s
thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the
boy’s forehead with his wings. “How cool I
feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting
better”; and he sank into a delicious slumber.</p>
<p>Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him
what he had done. “It is curious,” he remarked,
“but I feel quite warm now, although it is so
cold.”</p>
<p>“That is because you have done a good action,”
said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and
then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.</p>
<p>When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath.
“What a remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of
Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. “A
swallow in winter!” And he wrote a long letter about
it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full
of so many words that they could not understand.</p>
<p>“To-night I go to Egypt,” said the Swallow, and he
was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the
public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church
steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped, and said
to each other, “What a distinguished stranger!” so he
enjoyed himself very much.</p>
<p>When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.
“Have you any commissions for Egypt?” he cried;
“I am just starting.”</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “will you not stay with me one night
longer?”</p>
<p>“I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the
Swallow. “To-morrow my friends will fly up to the
Second Cataract. The river-horse couches there among the
bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God
Memnon. All night long he watches the stars, and when the
morning star shines he utters one cry of joy, and then he is
silent. At noon the yellow lions come down to the
water’s edge to drink. They have eyes like green
beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the
cataract.”</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “far away across the city I see a young man in a
garret. He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and
in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered
violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red
as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is
trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he
is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the
grate, and hunger has made him faint.”</p>
<p>“I will wait with you one night longer,” said the
Swallow, who really had a good heart. “Shall I take
him another ruby?”</p>
<p>“Alas! I have no ruby now,” said the Prince;
“my eyes are all that I have left. They are made of
rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years
ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him. He
will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and
finish his play.”</p>
<p>“Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot
do that”; and he began to weep.</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “do as I command you.”</p>
<p>So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew
away to the student’s garret. It was easy enough to
get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he
darted, and came into the room. The young man had his head
buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the
bird’s wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful
sapphire lying on the withered violets.</p>
<p>“I am beginning to be appreciated,” he cried;
“this is from some great admirer. Now I can finish my
play,” and he looked quite happy.</p>
<p>The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He
sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling
big chests out of the hold with ropes. “Heave
a-hoy!” they shouted as each chest came up. “I
am going to Egypt”! cried the Swallow, but nobody minded,
and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.</p>
<p>“I am come to bid you good-bye,” he cried.</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “will you not stay with me one night
longer?”</p>
<p>“It is winter,” answered the Swallow, “and
the chill snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm
on the green palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and
look lazily about them. My companions are building a nest
in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves are
watching them, and cooing to each other. Dear Prince, I
must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I
will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you
have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose,
and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.”</p>
<p>“In the square below,” said the Happy Prince,
“there stands a little match-girl. She has let her
matches fall in the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her
father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and
she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her
little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to
her, and her father will not beat her.”</p>
<p>“I will stay with you one night longer,” said the
Swallow, “but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would
be quite blind then.”</p>
<p>“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the
Prince, “do as I command you.”</p>
<p>So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted
down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped
the jewel into the palm of her hand. “What a lovely
bit of glass,” cried the little girl; and she ran home,
laughing.</p>
<p>Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. “You are
blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you
always.”</p>
<p>“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince,
“you must go away to Egypt.”</p>
<p>“I will stay with you always,” said the Swallow,
and he slept at the Prince’s feet.</p>
<p>All the next day he sat on the Prince’s shoulder, and
told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He
told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks
of the Nile, and catch gold-fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx,
who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and
knows everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side
of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the
King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and
worships a large crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in
a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes;
and of the pygmies who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves,
and are always at war with the butterflies.</p>
<p>“Dear little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you
tell me of marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything
is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery
so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and
tell me what you see there.”</p>
<p>So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich
making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were
sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the
white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the
black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little
boys were lying in one another’s arms to try and keep
themselves warm. “How hungry we are!” they
said. “You must not lie here,” shouted the
Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.</p>
<p>Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.</p>
<p>“I am covered with fine gold,” said the Prince,
“you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my
poor; the living always think that gold can make them
happy.”</p>
<p>Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till
the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after
leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the
children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played
games in the street. “We have bread now!” they
cried.</p>
<p>Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost.
The streets looked as if they were made of silver, they were so
bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung
down from the eaves of the houses, everybody went about in furs,
and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice.</p>
<p>The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would
not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up
crumbs outside the baker’s door when the baker was not
looking and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings.</p>
<p>But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had
just strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once
more. “Good-bye, dear Prince!” he murmured,
“will you let me kiss your hand?”</p>
<p>“I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little
Swallow,” said the Prince, “you have stayed too long
here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love
you.”</p>
<p>“It is not to Egypt that I am going,” said the
Swallow. “I am going to the House of Death.
Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?”</p>
<p>And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead
at his feet.</p>
<p>At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as
if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart
had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully
hard frost.</p>
<p>Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square
below in company with the Town Councillors. As they passed
the column he looked up at the statue: “Dear me! how shabby
the Happy Prince looks!” he said.</p>
<p>“How shabby indeed!” cried the Town Councillors,
who always agreed with the Mayor; and they went up to look at
it.</p>
<p>“The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are
gone, and he is golden no longer,” said the Mayor in fact,
“he is little better than a beggar!”</p>
<p>“Little better than a beggar,” said the Town
Councillors.</p>
<p>“And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!”
continued the Mayor. “We must really issue a
proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die
here.” And the Town Clerk made a note of the
suggestion.</p>
<p>So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince.
“As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer
useful,” said the Art Professor at the University.</p>
<p>Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a
meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the
metal. “We must have another statue, of
course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of
myself.”</p>
<p>“Of myself,” said each of the Town Councillors,
and they quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were
quarrelling still.</p>
<p>“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the
workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will
not melt in the furnace. We must throw it
away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead
Swallow was also lying.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p24b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of two birds"
title=
"Decorative graphic of two birds"
src="images/p24s.jpg" />
</a></p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="chap02"></a>The Nightingale and the Rose.</h2>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p27b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of young man lying on grass"
title=
"Decorative graphic of young man lying on grass"
src="images/p27s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p>“<span class="smcap">She</span> said that she would
dance with me if I brought her red roses,” cried the young
Student; “but in all my garden there is no red
rose.”</p>
<p>From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him,
and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.</p>
<p>“No red rose in all my garden!” he cried, and his
beautiful eyes filled with tears. “Ah, on what little
things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise
men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet
for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.”</p>
<p>“Here at last is a true lover,” said the
Nightingale. “Night after night have I sung of him,
though I knew him not: night after night have I told his story to
the stars, and now I see him. His hair is dark as the
hyacinth-blossom, and his lips are red as the rose of his desire;
but passion has made his face like pale ivory, and sorrow has set
her seal upon his brow.”</p>
<p>“The Prince gives a ball to-morrow night,”
murmured the young Student, “and my love will be of the
company. If I bring her a red rose she will dance with me
till dawn. If I bring her a red rose, I shall hold her in
my arms, and she will lean her head upon my shoulder, and her
hand will be clasped in mine. But there is no red rose in
my garden, so I shall sit lonely, and she will pass me by.
She will have no heed of me, and my heart will break.”</p>
<p>“Here indeed is the true lover,” said the
Nightingale. “What I sing of, he suffers—what
is joy to me, to him is pain. Surely Love is a wonderful
thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than
fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is
it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of
the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for
gold.”</p>
<p>“The musicians will sit in their gallery,” said
the young Student, “and play upon their stringed
instruments, and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and
the violin. She will dance so lightly that her feet will
not touch the floor, and the courtiers in their gay dresses will
throng round her. But with me she will not dance, for I
have no red rose to give her”; and he flung himself down on
the grass, and buried his face in his hands, and wept.</p>
<p>“Why is he weeping?” asked a little Green Lizard,
as he ran past him with his tail in the air.</p>
<p>“Why, indeed?” said a Butterfly, who was
fluttering about after a sunbeam.</p>
<p>“Why, indeed?” whispered a Daisy to his neighbour,
in a soft, low voice.</p>
<p>“He is weeping for a red rose,” said the
Nightingale.</p>
<p>“For a red rose?” they cried; “how very
ridiculous!” and the little Lizard, who was something of a
cynic, laughed outright.</p>
<p>But the Nightingale understood the secret of the
Student’s sorrow, and she sat silent in the oak-tree, and
thought about the mystery of Love.</p>
<p>Suddenly she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared
into the air. She passed through the grove like a shadow,
and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.</p>
<p>In the centre of the grass-plot was standing a beautiful
Rose-tree, and when she saw it she flew over to it, and lit upon
a spray.</p>
<p>“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will
sing you my sweetest song.”</p>
<p>But the Tree shook its head.</p>
<p>“My roses are white,” it answered; “as white
as the foam of the sea, and whiter than the snow upon the
mountain. But go to my brother who grows round the old
sun-dial, and perhaps he will give you what you want.”</p>
<p>So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing
round the old sun-dial.</p>
<p>“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will
sing you my sweetest song.”</p>
<p>But the Tree shook its head.</p>
<p>“My roses are yellow,” it answered; “as
yellow as the hair of the mermaiden who sits upon an amber
throne, and yellower than the daffodil that blooms in the meadow
before the mower comes with his scythe. But go to my
brother who grows beneath the Student’s window, and perhaps
he will give you what you want.”</p>
<p>So the Nightingale flew over to the Rose-tree that was growing
beneath the Student’s window.</p>
<p>“Give me a red rose,” she cried, “and I will
sing you my sweetest song.”</p>
<p>But the Tree shook its head.</p>
<p>“My roses are red,” it answered, “as red as
the feet of the dove, and redder than the great fans of coral
that wave and wave in the ocean-cavern. But the winter has
chilled my veins, and the frost has nipped my buds, and the storm
has broken my branches, and I shall have no roses at all this
year.”</p>
<p>“One red rose is all I want,” cried the
Nightingale, “only one red rose! Is there no way by
which I can get it?”</p>
<p>“There is a way,” answered the Tree; “but it
is so terrible that I dare not tell it to you.”</p>
<p>“Tell it to me,” said the Nightingale, “I am
not afraid.”</p>
<p>“If you want a red rose,” said the Tree,
“you must build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it
with your own heart’s-blood. You must sing to me with
your breast against a thorn. All night long you must sing
to me, and the thorn must pierce your heart, and your life-blood
must flow into my veins, and become mine.”</p>
<p>“Death is a great price to pay for a red rose,”
cried the Nightingale, “and Life is very dear to all.
It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in
his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl.
Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells
that hide in the valley, and the heather that blows on the
hill. Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart
of a bird compared to the heart of a man?”</p>
<p>So she spread her brown wings for flight, and soared into the
air. She swept over the garden like a shadow, and like a
shadow she sailed through the grove.</p>
<p>The young Student was still lying on the grass, where she had
left him, and the tears were not yet dry in his beautiful
eyes.</p>
<p>“Be happy,” cried the Nightingale, “be
happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of
music by moonlight, and stain it with my own
heart’s-blood. All that I ask of you in return is
that you will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy,
though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is
mighty. Flame-coloured are his wings, and coloured like
flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his
breath is like frankincense.”</p>
<p>The Student looked up from the grass, and listened, but he
could not understand what the Nightingale was saying to him, for
he only knew the things that are written down in books.</p>
<p>But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very
fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his
branches.</p>
<p>“Sing me one last song,” he whispered; “I
shall feel very lonely when you are gone.”</p>
<p>So the Nightingale sang to the Oak-tree, and her voice was
like water bubbling from a silver jar.</p>
<p>When she had finished her song the Student got up, and pulled
a note-book and a lead-pencil out of his pocket.</p>
<p>“She has form,” he said to himself, as he walked
away through the grove—“that cannot be denied to her;
but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact,
she is like most artists; she is all style, without any
sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for
others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knows
that the arts are selfish. Still, it must be admitted that
she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What a pity it
is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical
good.” And he went into his room, and lay down on his
little pallet-bed, and began to think of his love; and, after a
time, he fell asleep.</p>
<p>And when the Moon shone in the heavens the Nightingale flew to
the Rose-tree, and set her breast against the thorn. All
night long she sang with her breast against the thorn, and the
cold crystal Moon leaned down and listened. All night long
she sang, and the thorn went deeper and deeper into her breast,
and her life-blood ebbed away from her.</p>
<p>She sang first of the birth of love in the heart of a boy and
a girl. And on the top-most spray of the Rose-tree there
blossomed a marvellous rose, petal following petal, as song
followed song. Pale was it, at first, as the mist that
hangs over the river—pale as the feet of the morning, and
silver as the wings of the dawn. As the shadow of a rose in
a mirror of silver, as the shadow of a rose in a water-pool, so
was the rose that blossomed on the topmost spray of the Tree.</p>
<p>But the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against
the thorn. “Press closer, little Nightingale,”
cried the Tree, “or the Day will come before the rose is
finished.”</p>
<p>So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and
louder and louder grew her song, for she sang of the birth of
passion in the soul of a man and a maid.</p>
<p>And a delicate flush of pink came into the leaves of the rose,
like the flush in the face of the bridegroom when he kisses the
lips of the bride. But the thorn had not yet reached her
heart, so the rose’s heart remained white, for only a
Nightingale’s heart’s-blood can crimson the heart of
a rose.</p>
<p>And the Tree cried to the Nightingale to press closer against
the thorn. “Press closer, little Nightingale,”
cried the Tree, “or the Day will come before the rose is
finished.”</p>
<p>So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the
thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through
her. Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder
grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by
Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.</p>
<p>And the marvellous rose became crimson, like the rose of the
eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson
as a ruby was the heart.</p>
<p>But the Nightingale’s voice grew fainter, and her little
wings began to beat, and a film came over her eyes. Fainter
and fainter grew her song, and she felt something choking her in
her throat.</p>
<p>Then she gave one last burst of music. The white Moon
heard it, and she forgot the dawn, and lingered on in the
sky. The red rose heard it, and it trembled all over with
ecstasy, and opened its petals to the cold morning air.
Echo bore it to her purple cavern in the hills, and woke the
sleeping shepherds from their dreams. It floated through
the reeds of the river, and they carried its message to the
sea.</p>
<p>“Look, look!” cried the Tree, “the rose is
finished now”; but the Nightingale made no answer, for she
was lying dead in the long grass, with the thorn in her
heart.</p>
<p>And at noon the Student opened his window and looked out.</p>
<p>“Why, what a wonderful piece of luck!” he cried;
“here is a red rose! I have never seen any rose like
it in all my life. It is so beautiful that I am sure it has
a long Latin name”; and he leaned down and plucked it.</p>
<p>Then he put on his hat, and ran up to the Professor’s
house with the rose in his hand.</p>
<p>The daughter of the Professor was sitting in the doorway
winding blue silk on a reel, and her little dog was lying at her
feet.</p>
<p>“You said that you would dance with me if I brought you
a red rose,” cried the Student. “Here is the
reddest rose in all the world. You will wear it to-night
next your heart, and as we dance together it will tell you how I
love you.”</p>
<p>But the girl frowned.</p>
<p>“I am afraid it will not go with my dress,” she
answered; “and, besides, the Chamberlain’s nephew has
sent me some real jewels, and everybody knows that jewels cost
far more than flowers.”</p>
<p>“Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful,”
said the Student angrily; and he threw the rose into the street,
where it fell into the gutter, and a cart-wheel went over it.</p>
<p>“Ungrateful!” said the girl. “I tell
you what, you are very rude; and, after all, who are you?
Only a Student. Why, I don’t believe you have even
got silver buckles to your shoes as the Chamberlain’s
nephew has”; and she got up from her chair and went into
the house.</p>
<p>“What a silly thing Love is,” said the Student
as he walked away. “It is not half as useful as
Logic, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling
one of things that are not going to happen, and making one
believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite
unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I
shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics.”</p>
<p>So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book,
and began to read.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p41b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of nightingale and rose"
title=
"Decorative graphic of nightingale and rose"
src="images/p41s.jpg" />
</a></p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="chap03"></a>The Selfish Giant.</h2>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p44b.jpg">
<img alt=
"The Selfish Giant"
title=
"The Selfish Giant"
src="images/p44s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> afternoon, as they were
coming from school, the children used to go and play in the
Giant’s garden.</p>
<p>It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass.
Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars,
and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke
out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn
bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so
sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to
listen to them. “How happy we are here!” they
cried to each other.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p45b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of children in garden"
title=
"Decorative graphic of children in garden"
src="images/p45s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p>One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his
friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven
years. After the seven years were over he had said all that
he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he
determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he
saw the children playing in the garden.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?” he cried in a very
gruff voice, and the children ran away.</p>
<p>“My own garden is my own garden,” said the Giant;
“any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to
play in it but myself.” So he built a high wall all
round it, and put up a notice-board.</p>
<table>
<tr>
<td><p style="text-align: center"><b>TRESPASSERS</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall"><b>WILL
BE</b></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center"><b>PROSECUTED</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>He was a very selfish Giant.</p>
<p>The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to
play on the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard
stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander round
the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the
beautiful garden inside. “How happy we were
there,” they said to each other.</p>
<p>Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were
little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the
Selfish Giant it was still winter. The birds did not care
to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to
blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the
grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the
children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off
to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow
and the Frost. “Spring has forgotten this
garden,” they cried, “so we will live here all the
year round.” The Snow covered up the grass with her
great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees
silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them,
and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day
about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down.
“This is a delightful spot,” he said, “we must
ask the Hail on a visit.” So the Hail came.
Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle
till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round
the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey,
and his breath was like ice.</p>
<p>“I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in
coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window
and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will
be a change in the weather.”</p>
<p>But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn
gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant’s
garden she gave none. “He is too selfish,” she
said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind,
and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through
the trees.</p>
<p>One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard
some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he
thought it must be the King’s musicians passing by.
It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window,
but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden
that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the
world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the
North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him
through the open casement. “I believe the Spring has
come at last,” said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and
looked out.</p>
<p>What did he see?</p>
<p>He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in
the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the
branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see
there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to
have the children back again that they had covered themselves
with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the
children’s heads. The birds were flying about and
twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through
the green grass and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only
in one corner it was still winter. It was the farthest
corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy.
He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the
tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly.
The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and
the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it.
“Climb up! little boy,” said the Tree, and it bent
its branches down as low as it could; but the boy was too
tiny.</p>
<p>And the Giant’s heart melted as he looked out.
“How selfish I have been!” he said; “now I know
why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor
little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the
wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for
ever and ever.” He was really very sorry for what he
had done.</p>
<p>So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly,
and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him
they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden
became winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for
his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant
coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and took him
gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the
tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on
it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them
round the Giant’s neck, and kissed him. And the other
children, when they saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer,
came running back, and with them came the Spring. “It
is your garden now, little children,” said the Giant, and
he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the
people were going to market at twelve o’clock they found
the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden
they had ever seen.</p>
<p>All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the
Giant to bid him good-bye.</p>
<p>“But where is your little companion?” he said:
“the boy I put into the tree.” The Giant loved
him the best because he had kissed him.</p>
<p>“We don’t know,” answered the children;
“he has gone away.”</p>
<p>“You must tell him to be sure and come here
to-morrow,” said the Giant. But the children said
that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him
before; and the Giant felt very sad.</p>
<p>Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and
played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant
loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all
the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and
often spoke of him. “How I would like to see
him!” he used to say.</p>
<p>Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble.
He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair,
and watched the children at their games, and admired his
garden. “I have many beautiful flowers,” he
said; “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of
all.”</p>
<p>One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was
dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that
it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were
resting.</p>
<p>Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and
looked. It certainly was a marvellous sight. In the
farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with
lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and
silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the
little boy he had loved.</p>
<p>Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the
garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the
child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with
anger, and he said, “Who hath dared to wound
thee?” For on the palms of the child’s hands
were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on
the little feet.</p>
<p>“Who hath dared to wound thee?” cried the Giant;
“tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay
him.”</p>
<p>“Nay!” answered the child; “but these are
the wounds of Love.”</p>
<p>“Who art thou?” said the Giant, and a strange awe
fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.</p>
<p>And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, “You
let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to
my garden, which is Paradise.”</p>
<p>And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the
Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white
blossoms.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p55b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of wreath"
title=
"Decorative graphic of wreath"
src="images/p55s.jpg" />
</a></p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="chap04"></a>The Devoted Friend.</h2>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p59b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Hans and the Miller"
title=
"Hans and the Miller"
src="images/p59s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p><span class="smcap">One</span> morning the old Water-rat put
his head out of his hole. He had bright beady eyes and
stiff grey whiskers and his tail was like a long bit of black
india-rubber. The little ducks were swimming about in the
pond, looking just like a lot of yellow canaries, and their
mother, who was pure white with real red legs, was trying to
teach them how to stand on their heads in the water.</p>
<p>“You will never be in the best society unless you can
stand on your heads,” she kept saying to them; and every
now and then she showed them how it was done. But the
little ducks paid no attention to her. They were so young
that they did not know what an advantage it is to be in society
at all.</p>
<p>“What disobedient children!” cried the old
Water-rat; “they really deserve to be drowned.”</p>
<p>“Nothing of the kind,” answered the Duck,
“every one must make a beginning, and parents cannot be too
patient.”</p>
<p>“Ah! I know nothing about the feelings of
parents,” said the Water-rat; “I am not a family
man. In fact, I have never been married, and I never intend
to be. Love is all very well in its way, but friendship is
much higher. Indeed, I know of nothing in the world that is
either nobler or rarer than a devoted friendship.”</p>
<p>“And what, pray, is your idea of the duties of a devoted
friend?” asked a Green Linnet, who was sitting in a
willow-tree hard by, and had overheard the conversation.</p>
<p>“Yes, that is just what I want to know,” said the
Duck; and she swam away to the end of the pond, and stood upon
her head, in order to give her children a good example.</p>
<p>“What a silly question!” cried the
Water-rat. “I should expect my devoted friend to be
devoted to me, of course.”</p>
<p>“And what would you do in return?” said the little
bird, swinging upon a silver spray, and flapping his tiny
wings.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand you,” answered the
Water-rat.</p>
<p>“Let me tell you a story on the subject,” said the
Linnet.</p>
<p>“Is the story about me?” asked the
Water-rat. “If so, I will listen to it, for I am
extremely fond of fiction.”</p>
<p>“It is applicable to you,” answered the Linnet;
and he flew down, and alighting upon the bank, he told the story
of The Devoted Friend.</p>
<p>“Once upon a time,” said the Linnet, “there
was an honest little fellow named Hans.”</p>
<p>“Was he very distinguished?” asked the
Water-rat.</p>
<p>“No,” answered the Linnet, “I don’t
think he was distinguished at all, except for his kind heart, and
his funny round good-humoured face. He lived in a tiny
cottage all by himself, and every day he worked in his
garden. In all the country-side there was no garden so
lovely as his. Sweet-william grew there, and Gilly-flowers,
and Shepherds’-purses, and Fair-maids of France.
There were damask Roses, and yellow Roses, lilac Crocuses, and
gold, purple Violets and white. Columbine and Ladysmock,
Marjoram and Wild Basil, the Cowslip and the Flower-de-luce, the
Daffodil and the Clove-Pink bloomed or blossomed in their proper
order as the months went by, one flower taking another
flower’s place, so that there were always beautiful things
to look at, and pleasant odours to smell.</p>
<p>“Little Hans had a great many friends, but the most
devoted friend of all was big Hugh the Miller. Indeed, so
devoted was the rich Miller to little Hans, that he would never
go by his garden without leaning over the wall and plucking a
large nosegay, or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his
pockets with plums and cherries if it was the fruit season.</p>
<p>“‘Real friends should have everything in
common,’ the Miller used to say, and little Hans nodded and
smiled, and felt very proud of having a friend with such noble
ideas.</p>
<p>“Sometimes, indeed, the neighbours thought it strange
that the rich Miller never gave little Hans anything in return,
though he had a hundred sacks of flour stored away in his mill,
and six milch cows, and a large flock of woolly sheep; but Hans
never troubled his head about these things, and nothing gave him
greater pleasure than to listen to all the wonderful things the
Miller used to say about the unselfishness of true
friendship.</p>
<p>“So little Hans worked away in his garden. During
the spring, the summer, and the autumn he was very happy, but
when the winter came, and he had no fruit or flowers to bring to
the market, he suffered a good deal from cold and hunger, and
often had to go to bed without any supper but a few dried pears
or some hard nuts. In the winter, also, he was extremely
lonely, as the Miller never came to see him then.</p>
<p>“‘There is no good in my going to see little Hans
as long as the snow lasts,’ the Miller used to say to his
wife, ‘for when people are in trouble they should be left
alone, and not be bothered by visitors. That at least is my
idea about friendship, and I am sure I am right. So I shall
wait till the spring comes, and then I shall pay him a visit, and
he will be able to give me a large basket of primroses and that
will make him so happy.’</p>
<p>“‘You are certainly very thoughtful about
others,’ answered the Wife, as she sat in her comfortable
armchair by the big pinewood fire; ‘very thoughtful
indeed. It is quite a treat to hear you talk about
friendship. I am sure the clergyman himself could not say
such beautiful things as you do, though he does live in a
three-storied house, and wear a gold ring on his little
finger.’</p>
<p>“‘But could we not ask little Hans up here?’
said the Miller’s youngest son. ‘If poor Hans
is in trouble I will give him half my porridge, and show him my
white rabbits.’</p>
<p>“‘What a silly boy you are!’ cried the
Miller; ‘I really don’t know what is the use of
sending you to school. You seem not to learn
anything. Why, if little Hans came up here, and saw our
warm fire, and our good supper, and our great cask of red wine,
he might get envious, and envy is a most terrible thing, and
would spoil anybody’s nature. I certainly will not
allow Hans’ nature to be spoiled. I am his best
friend, and I will always watch over him, and see that he is not
led into any temptations. Besides, if Hans came here, he
might ask me to let him have some flour on credit, and that I
could not do. Flour is one thing, and friendship is
another, and they should not be confused. Why, the words
are spelt differently, and mean quite different things.
Everybody can see that.’</p>
<p>“‘How well you talk!’ said the
Miller’s Wife, pouring herself out a large glass of warm
ale; ‘really I feel quite drowsy. It is just like
being in church.’</p>
<p>“‘Lots of people act well,’ answered the
Miller; ‘but very few people talk well, which shows that
talking is much the more difficult thing of the two, and much the
finer thing also’; and he looked sternly across the table
at his little son, who felt so ashamed of himself that he hung
his head down, and grew quite scarlet, and began to cry into his
tea. However, he was so young that you must excuse
him.”</p>
<p>“Is that the end of the story?” asked the
Water-rat.</p>
<p>“Certainly not,” answered the Linnet, “that
is the beginning.”</p>
<p>“Then you are quite behind the age,” said the
Water-rat. “Every good story-teller nowadays starts
with the end, and then goes on to the beginning, and concludes
with the middle. That is the new method. I heard all
about it the other day from a critic who was walking round the
pond with a young man. He spoke of the matter at great
length, and I am sure he must have been right, for he had blue
spectacles and a bald head, and whenever the young man made any
remark, he always answered ‘Pooh!’ But pray go
on with your story. I like the Miller immensely. I
have all kinds of beautiful sentiments myself, so there is a
great sympathy between us.”</p>
<p>“Well,” said the Linnet, hopping now on one leg
and now on the other, “as soon as the winter was over, and
the primroses began to open their pale yellow stars, the Miller
said to his wife that he would go down and see little Hans.</p>
<p>“‘Why, what a good heart you have!’ cried
his Wife; ‘you are always thinking of others. And
mind you take the big basket with you for the flowers.’</p>
<p>“So the Miller tied the sails of the windmill together
with a strong iron chain, and went down the hill with the basket
on his arm.</p>
<p>“‘Good morning, little Hans,’ said the
Miller.</p>
<p>“‘Good morning,’ said Hans, leaning on his
spade, and smiling from ear to ear.</p>
<p>“‘And how have you been all the winter?’
said the Miller.</p>
<p>“‘Well, really,’ cried Hans, ‘it is
very good of you to ask, very good indeed. I am afraid I
had rather a hard time of it, but now the spring has come, and I
am quite happy, and all my flowers are doing well.’</p>
<p>“‘We often talked of you during the winter,
Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘and wondered how you were
getting on.’</p>
<p>“‘That was kind of you,’ said Hans; ‘I
was half afraid you had forgotten me.’</p>
<p>“‘Hans, I am surprised at you,’ said the
Miller; ‘friendship never forgets. That is the
wonderful thing about it, but I am afraid you don’t
understand the poetry of life. How lovely your primroses
are looking, by-the-bye!”</p>
<p>“‘They are certainly very lovely,’ said
Hans, ‘and it is a most lucky thing for me that I have so
many. I am going to bring them into the market and sell
them to the Burgomaster’s daughter, and buy back my
wheelbarrow with the money.’</p>
<p>“‘Buy back your wheelbarrow? You don’t
mean to say you have sold it? What a very stupid thing to
do!’</p>
<p>“‘Well, the fact is,’ said Hans, ‘that
I was obliged to. You see the winter was a very bad time
for me, and I really had no money at all to buy bread with.
So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I
sold my silver chain, and then I sold my big pipe, and at last I
sold my wheelbarrow. But I am going to buy them all back
again now.’</p>
<p>“‘Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘I will give
you my wheelbarrow. It is not in very good repair; indeed,
one side is gone, and there is something wrong with the
wheel-spokes; but in spite of that I will give it to you. I
know it is very generous of me, and a great many people would
think me extremely foolish for parting with it, but I am not like
the rest of the world. I think that generosity is the
essence of friendship, and, besides, I have got a new wheelbarrow
for myself. Yes, you may set your mind at ease, I will give
you my wheelbarrow.’</p>
<p>“‘Well, really, that is generous of you,’
said little Hans, and his funny round face glowed all over with
pleasure. ‘I can easily put it in repair, as I have a
plank of wood in the house.’</p>
<p>“‘A plank of wood!’ said the Miller;
‘why, that is just what I want for the roof of my
barn. There is a very large hole in it, and the corn will
all get damp if I don’t stop it up. How lucky you
mentioned it! It is quite remarkable how one good action
always breeds another. I have given you my wheelbarrow, and
now you are going to give me your plank. Of course, the
wheelbarrow is worth far more than the plank, but true,
friendship never notices things like that. Pray get it at
once, and I will set to work at my barn this very day.’</p>
<p>“‘Certainly,’ cried little Hans, and he ran
into the shed and dragged the plank out.</p>
<p>“‘It is not a very big plank,’ said the
Miller, looking at it, ‘and I am afraid that after I have
mended my barn-roof there won’t be any left for you to mend
the wheelbarrow with; but, of course, that is not my fault.
And now, as I have given you my wheelbarrow, I am sure you would
like to give me some flowers in return. Here is the basket,
and mind you fill it quite full.’</p>
<p>“‘Quite full?’ said little Hans, rather
sorrowfully, for it was really a very big basket, and he knew
that if he filled it he would have no flowers left for the market
and he was very anxious to get his silver buttons back.</p>
<p>“‘Well, really,’ answered the Miller,
‘as I have given you my wheelbarrow, I don’t think
that it is much to ask you for a few flowers. I may be
wrong, but I should have thought that friendship, true
friendship, was quite free from selfishness of any
kind.’</p>
<p>“‘My dear friend, my best friend,’ cried
little Hans, ‘you are welcome to all the flowers in my
garden. I would much sooner have your good opinion than my
silver buttons, any day’; and he ran and plucked all his
pretty primroses, and filled the Miller’s basket.</p>
<p>“‘Good-bye, little Hans,’ said the Miller,
as he went up the hill with the plank on his shoulder, and the
big basket in his hand.</p>
<p>“‘Good-bye,’ said little Hans, and he began
to dig away quite merrily, he was so pleased about the
wheelbarrow.</p>
<p>“The next day he was nailing up some honeysuckle against
the porch, when he heard the Miller’s voice calling to him
from the road. So he jumped off the ladder, and ran down
the garden, and looked over the wall.</p>
<p>“There was the Miller with a large sack of flour on his
back.</p>
<p>“‘Dear little Hans,’ said the Miller,
‘would you mind carrying this sack of flour for me to
market?’</p>
<p>“‘Oh, I am so sorry,’ said Hans, ‘but
I am really very busy to-day. I have got all my creepers to
nail up, and all my flowers to water, and all my grass to
roll.’</p>
<p>“‘Well, really,’ said the Miller, ‘I
think that, considering that I am going to give you my
wheelbarrow, it is rather unfriendly of you to refuse.’</p>
<p>“‘Oh, don’t say that,’ cried little
Hans, ‘I wouldn’t be unfriendly for the whole
world’; and he ran in for his cap, and trudged off with the
big sack on his shoulders.</p>
<p>“It was a very hot day, and the road was terribly dusty,
and before Hans had reached the sixth milestone he was so tired
that he had to sit down and rest. However, he went on
bravely, and as last he reached the market. After he had
waited there some time, he sold the sack of flour for a very good
price, and then he returned home at once, for he was afraid that
if he stopped too late he might meet some robbers on the way.</p>
<p>“‘It has certainly been a hard day,’ said
little Hans to himself as he was going to bed, ‘but I am
glad I did not refuse the Miller, for he is my best friend, and,
besides, he is going to give me his wheelbarrow.’</p>
<p>“Early the next morning the Miller came down to get the
money for his sack of flour, but little Hans was so tired that he
was still in bed.</p>
<p>“‘Upon my word,’ said the Miller, ‘you
are very lazy. Really, considering that I am going to give
you my wheelbarrow, I think you might work harder. Idleness
is a great sin, and I certainly don’t like any of my
friends to be idle or sluggish. You must not mind my
speaking quite plainly to you. Of course I should not dream
of doing so if I were not your friend. But what is the good
of friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means?
Anybody can say charming things and try to please and to flatter,
but a true friend always says unpleasant things, and does not
mind giving pain. Indeed, if he is a really true friend he
prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.’</p>
<p>“‘I am very sorry,’ said little Hans,
rubbing his eyes and pulling off his night-cap, ‘but I was
so tired that I thought I would lie in bed for a little time, and
listen to the birds singing. Do you know that I always work
better after hearing the birds sing?’</p>
<p>“‘Well, I am glad of that,’ said the Miller,
clapping little Hans on the back, ‘for I want you to come
up to the mill as soon as you are dressed, and mend my barn-roof
for me.’</p>
<p>“Poor little Hans was very anxious to go and work in his
garden, for his flowers had not been watered for two days, but he
did not like to refuse the Miller, as he was such a good friend
to him.</p>
<p>“‘Do you think it would be unfriendly of me if I
said I was busy?’ he inquired in a shy and timid voice.</p>
<p>“‘Well, really,’ answered the Miller,
‘I do not think it is much to ask of you, considering that
I am going to give you my wheelbarrow; but of course if you
refuse I will go and do it myself.’</p>
<p>“‘Oh! on no account,’ cried little Hans and
he jumped out of bed, and dressed himself, and went up to the
barn.</p>
<p>“He worked there all day long, till sunset, and at
sunset the Miller came to see how he was getting on.</p>
<p>“‘Have you mended the hole in the roof yet, little
Hans?’ cried the Miller in a cheery voice.</p>
<p>“‘It is quite mended,’ answered little Hans,
coming down the ladder.</p>
<p>“‘Ah!’ said the Miller, ‘there is no
work so delightful as the work one does for others.’</p>
<p>“‘It is certainly a great privilege to hear you
talk,’ answered little Hans, sitting down, and wiping his
forehead, ‘a very great privilege. But I am afraid I
shall never have such beautiful ideas as you have.’</p>
<p>“‘Oh! they will come to you,’ said the
Miller, ‘but you must take more pains. At present you
have only the practice of friendship; some day you will have the
theory also.’</p>
<p>“‘Do you really think I shall?’ asked little
Hans.</p>
<p>“‘I have no doubt of it,’ answered the
Miller, ‘but now that you have mended the roof, you had
better go home and rest, for I want you to drive my sheep to the
mountain to-morrow.’</p>
<p>“Poor little Hans was afraid to say anything to this,
and early the next morning the Miller brought his sheep round to
the cottage, and Hans started off with them to the
mountain. It took him the whole day to get there and back;
and when he returned he was so tired that he went off to sleep in
his chair, and did not wake up till it was broad daylight.</p>
<p>“‘What a delightful time I shall have in my
garden,’ he said, and he went to work at once.</p>
<p>“But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers
at all, for his friend the Miller was always coming round and
sending him off on long errands, or getting him to help at the
mill. Little Hans was very much distressed at times, as he
was afraid his flowers would think he had forgotten them, but he
consoled himself by the reflection that the Miller was his best
friend. ‘Besides,’ he used to say, ‘he is
going to give me his wheelbarrow, and that is an act of pure
generosity.’</p>
<p>“So little Hans worked away for the Miller, and the
Miller said all kinds of beautiful things about friendship, which
Hans took down in a note-book, and used to read over at night,
for he was a very good scholar.</p>
<p>“Now it happened that one evening little Hans was
sitting by his fireside when a loud rap came at the door.
It was a very wild night, and the wind was blowing and roaring
round the house so terribly that at first he thought it was
merely the storm. But a second rap came, and then a third,
louder than any of the others.</p>
<p>“‘It is some poor traveller,’ said little
Hans to himself, and he ran to the door.</p>
<p>“There stood the Miller with a lantern in one hand and a
big stick in the other.</p>
<p>“‘Dear little Hans,’ cried the Miller,
‘I am in great trouble. My little boy has fallen off
a ladder and hurt himself, and I am going for the Doctor.
But he lives so far away, and it is such a bad night, that it has
just occurred to me that it would be much better if you went
instead of me. You know I am going to give you my
wheelbarrow, and so, it is only fair that you should do something
for me in return.’</p>
<p>“‘Certainly,’ cried little Hans, ‘I
take it quite as a compliment your coming to me, and I will start
off at once. But you must lend me your lantern, as the
night is so dark that I am afraid I might fall into the
ditch.’</p>
<p>“‘I am very sorry,’ answered the Miller,
‘but it is my new lantern, and it would be a great loss to
me if anything happened to it.’</p>
<p>“‘Well, never mind, I will do without it,’
cried little Hans, and he took down his great fur coat, and his
warm scarlet cap, and tied a muffler round his throat, and
started off.</p>
<p>“What a dreadful storm it was! The night was so
black that little Hans could hardly see, and the wind was so
strong that he could scarcely stand. However, he was very
courageous, and after he had been walking about three hours, he
arrived at the Doctor’s house, and knocked at the door.</p>
<p>“‘Who is there?’ cried the Doctor, putting
his head out of his bedroom window.</p>
<p>“‘Little Hans, Doctor.’</p>
<p>“’What do you want, little Hans?’</p>
<p>“‘The Miller’s son has fallen from a ladder,
and has hurt himself, and the Miller wants you to come at
once.’</p>
<p>“‘All right!’ said the Doctor; and he
ordered his horse, and his big boots, and his lantern, and came
downstairs, and rode off in the direction of the Miller’s
house, little Hans trudging behind him.</p>
<p>“But the storm grew worse and worse, and the rain fell
in torrents, and little Hans could not see where he was going, or
keep up with the horse. At last he lost his way, and
wandered off on the moor, which was a very dangerous place, as it
was full of deep holes, and there poor little Hans was
drowned. His body was found the next day by some goatherds,
floating in a great pool of water, and was brought back by them
to the cottage.</p>
<p>“Everybody went to little Hans’ funeral, as he was
so popular, and the Miller was the chief mourner.</p>
<p>“‘As I was his best friend,’ said the
Miller, ‘it is only fair that I should have the best
place’; so he walked at the head of the procession in a
long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped his eyes with a
big pocket-handkerchief.</p>
<p>“‘Little Hans is certainly a great loss to every
one,’ said the Blacksmith, when the funeral was over, and
they were all seated comfortably in the inn, drinking spiced wine
and eating sweet cakes.</p>
<p>“‘A great loss to me at any rate,’ answered
the Miller; ‘why, I had as good as given him my
wheelbarrow, and now I really don’t know what to do with
it. It is very much in my way at home, and it is in such
bad repair that I could not get anything for it if I sold
it. I will certainly take care not to give away anything
again. One always suffers for being
generous.’”</p>
<p>“Well?” said the Water-rat, after a long
pause.</p>
<p>“Well, that is the end,” said the Linnet.</p>
<p>“But what became of the Miller?” asked the
Water-rat.</p>
<p>“Oh! I really don’t know,” replied the
Linnet; “and I am sure that I don’t care.”</p>
<p>“It is quite evident then that you have no sympathy in
your nature,” said the Water-rat.</p>
<p>“I am afraid you don’t quite see the moral of the
story,” remarked the Linnet.</p>
<p>“The what?” screamed the Water-rat.</p>
<p>“The moral.”</p>
<p>“Do you mean to say that the story has a
moral?”</p>
<p>“Certainly,” said the Linnet.</p>
<p>“Well, really,” said the Water-rat, in a very
angry manner, “I think you should have told me that before
you began. If you had done so, I certainly would not have
listened to you; in fact, I should have said ‘Pooh,’
like the critic. However, I can say it now”; so he
shouted out “Pooh” at the top of his voice, gave a
whisk with his tail, and went back into his hole.</p>
<p>“And how do you like the Water-rat?” asked the
Duck, who came paddling up some minutes afterwards.
“He has a great many good points, but for my own part I
have a mother’s feelings, and I can never look at a
confirmed bachelor without the tears coming into my
eyes.”</p>
<p>“I am rather afraid that I have annoyed him,”
answered the Linnet. “The fact is, that I told him a
story with a moral.”</p>
<p>“Ah! that is always a very dangerous thing to do,”
said the Duck.</p>
<p>And I quite agree with her.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p85b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of windmill and overturned barrow"
title=
"Decorative graphic of windmill and overturned barrow"
src="images/p85s.jpg" />
</a></p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="chap05"></a>The Remarkable Rocket.</h2>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p88b.jpg">
<img alt=
"The Remarkable Rocket"
title=
"The Remarkable Rocket"
src="images/p88s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p><span class="smcap">The</span> King’s son was going to
be married, so there were general rejoicings. He had waited
a whole year for his bride, and at last she had arrived.
She was a Russian Princess, and had driven all the way from
Finland in a sledge drawn by six reindeer. The sledge was
shaped like a great golden swan, and between the swan’s
wings lay the little Princess herself. Her long
ermine-cloak reached right down to her feet, on her head was a
tiny cap of silver tissue, and she was as pale as the Snow Palace
in which she had always lived. So pale was she that as she
drove through the streets all the people wondered.
“She is like a white rose!” they cried, and they
threw down flowers on her from the balconies.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p89b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of young man kissing the princess’
hand"
title=
"Decorative graphic of young man kissing the princess’
hand"
src="images/p89s.jpg" />
</a></p>
<p>At the gate of the Castle the Prince was waiting to receive
her. He had dreamy violet eyes, and his hair was like fine
gold. When he saw her he sank upon one knee, and kissed her
hand.</p>
<p>“Your picture was beautiful,” he murmured,
“but you are more beautiful than your picture”; and
the little Princess blushed.</p>
<p>“She was like a white rose before,” said a young
Page to his neighbour, “but she is like a red rose
now”; and the whole Court was delighted.</p>
<p>For the next three days everybody went about saying,
“White rose, Red rose, Red rose, White rose”; and the
King gave orders that the Page’s salary was to be
doubled. As he received no salary at all this was not of
much use to him, but it was considered a great honour, and was
duly published in the Court Gazette.</p>
<p>When the three days were over the marriage was
celebrated. It was a magnificent ceremony, and the bride
and bridegroom walked hand in hand under a canopy of purple
velvet embroidered with little pearls. Then there was a
State Banquet, which lasted for five hours. The Prince and
Princess sat at the top of the Great Hall and drank out of a cup
of clear crystal. Only true lovers could drink out of this
cup, for if false lips touched it, it grew grey and dull and
cloudy.</p>
<p>“It’s quite clear that they love each
other,” said the little Page, “as clear as
crystal!” and the King doubled his salary a second
time. “What an honour!” cried all the
courtiers.</p>
<p>After the banquet there was to be a Ball. The bride and
bridegroom were to dance the Rose-dance together, and the King
had promised to play the flute. He played very badly, but
no one had ever dared to tell him so, because he was the
King. Indeed, he knew only two airs, and was never quite
certain which one he was playing; but it made no matter, for,
whatever he did, everybody cried out, “Charming!
charming!”</p>
<p>The last item on the programme was a grand display of
fireworks, to be let off exactly at midnight. The little
Princess had never seen a firework in her life, so the King had
given orders that the Royal Pyrotechnist should be in attendance
on the day of her marriage.</p>
<p>“What are fireworks like?” she had asked the
Prince, one morning, as she was walking on the terrace.</p>
<p>“They are like the Aurora Borealis,” said the
King, who always answered questions that were addressed to other
people, “only much more natural. I prefer them to
stars myself, as you always know when they are going to appear,
and they are as delightful as my own flute-playing. You
must certainly see them.”</p>
<p>So at the end of the King’s garden a great stand had
been set up, and as soon as the Royal Pyrotechnist had put
everything in its proper place, the fireworks began to talk to
each other.</p>
<p>“The world is certainly very beautiful,” cried a
little Squib. “Just look at those yellow
tulips. Why! if they were real crackers they could not be
lovelier. I am very glad I have travelled. Travel
improves the mind wonderfully, and does away with all one’s
prejudices.”</p>
<p>“The King’s garden is not the world, you foolish
squib,” said a big Roman Candle; “the world is an
enormous place, and it would take you three days to see it
thoroughly.”</p>
<p>“Any place you love is the world to you,”
exclaimed a pensive Catherine Wheel, who had been attached to an
old deal box in early life, and prided herself on her broken
heart; “but love is not fashionable any more, the poets
have killed it. They wrote so much about it that nobody
believed them, and I am not surprised. True love suffers,
and is silent. I remember myself once—But it is no
matter now. Romance is a thing of the past.”</p>
<p>“Nonsense!” said the Roman Candle, “Romance
never dies. It is like the moon, and lives for ever.
The bride and bridegroom, for instance, love each other very
dearly. I heard all about them this morning from a
brown-paper cartridge, who happened to be staying in the same
drawer as myself, and knew the latest Court news.”</p>
<p>But the Catherine Wheel shook her head. “Romance
is dead, Romance is dead, Romance is dead,” she
murmured. She was one of those people who think that, if
you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it
becomes true in the end.</p>
<p>Suddenly, a sharp, dry cough was heard, and they all looked
round.</p>
<p>It came from a tall, supercilious-looking Rocket, who was tied
to the end of a long stick. He always coughed before he
made any observation, so as to attract attention.</p>
<p>“Ahem! ahem!” he said, and everybody listened
except the poor Catherine Wheel, who was still shaking her head,
and murmuring, “Romance is dead.”</p>
<p>“Order! order!” cried out a Cracker. He was
something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent part
in the local elections, so he knew the proper Parliamentary
expressions to use.</p>
<p>“Quite dead,” whispered the Catherine Wheel, and
she went off to sleep.</p>
<p>As soon as there was perfect silence, the Rocket coughed a
third time and began. He spoke with a very slow, distinct
voice, as if he was dictating his memoirs, and always looked over
the shoulder of the person to whom he was talking. In fact,
he had a most distinguished manner.</p>
<p>“How fortunate it is for the King’s son,” he
remarked, “that he is to be married on the very day on
which I am to be let off. Really, if it had been arranged
beforehand, it could not have turned out better for him; but,
Princes are always lucky.”</p>
<p>“Dear me!” said the little Squib, “I thought
it was quite the other way, and that we were to be let off in the
Prince’s honour.”</p>
<p>“It may be so with you,” he answered;
“indeed, I have no doubt that it is, but with me it is
different. I am a very remarkable Rocket, and come of
remarkable parents. My mother was the most celebrated
Catherine Wheel of her day, and was renowned for her graceful
dancing. When she made her great public appearance she spun
round nineteen times before she went out, and each time that she
did so she threw into the air seven pink stars. She was
three feet and a half in diameter, and made of the very best
gunpowder. My father was a Rocket like myself, and of
French extraction. He flew so high that the people were
afraid that he would never come down again. He did, though,
for he was of a kindly disposition, and he made a most brilliant
descent in a shower of golden rain. The newspapers wrote
about his performance in very flattering terms. Indeed, the
Court Gazette called him a triumph of Pylotechnic art.”</p>
<p>“Pyrotechnic, Pyrotechnic, you mean,” said a
Bengal Light; “I know it is Pyrotechnic, for I saw it
written on my own canister.”</p>
<p>“Well, I said Pylotechnic,” answered the Rocket,
in a severe tone of voice, and the Bengal Light felt so crushed
that he began at once to bully the little squibs, in order to
show that he was still a person of some importance.</p>
<p>“I was saying,” continued the Rocket, “I was
saying—What was I saying?”</p>
<p>“You were talking about yourself,” replied the
Roman Candle.</p>
<p>“Of course; I knew I was discussing some interesting
subject when I was so rudely interrupted. I hate rudeness
and bad manners of every kind, for I am extremely
sensitive. No one in the whole world is so sensitive as I
am, I am quite sure of that.”</p>
<p>“What is a sensitive person?” said the Cracker to
the Roman Candle.</p>
<p>“A person who, because he has corns himself, always
treads on other people’s toes,” answered the Roman
Candle in a low whisper; and the Cracker nearly exploded with
laughter.</p>
<p>“Pray, what are you laughing at?” inquired the
Rocket; “I am not laughing.”</p>
<p>“I am laughing because I am happy,” replied the
Cracker.</p>
<p>“That is a very selfish reason,” said the Rocket
angrily. “What right have you to be happy? You
should be thinking about others. In fact, you should be
thinking about me. I am always thinking about myself, and I
expect everybody else to do the same. That is what is
called sympathy. It is a beautiful virtue, and I possess it
in a high degree. Suppose, for instance, anything happened
to me to-night, what a misfortune that would be for every
one! The Prince and Princess would never be happy again,
their whole married life would be spoiled; and as for the King, I
know he would not get over it. Really, when I begin to
reflect on the importance of my position, I am almost moved to
tears.”</p>
<p>“If you want to give pleasure to others,” cried
the Roman Candle, “you had better keep yourself
dry.”</p>
<p>“Certainly,” exclaimed the Bengal Light, who was
now in better spirits; “that is only common
sense.”</p>
<p>“Common sense, indeed!” said the Rocket
indignantly; “you forget that I am very uncommon, and very
remarkable. Why, anybody can have common sense, provided
that they have no imagination. But I have imagination, for
I never think of things as they really are; I always think of
them as being quite different. As for keeping myself dry,
there is evidently no one here who can at all appreciate an
emotional nature. Fortunately for myself, I don’t
care. The only thing that sustains one through life is the
consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and
this is a feeling that I have always cultivated. But none
of you have any hearts. Here you are laughing and making
merry just as if the Prince and Princess had not just been
married.”</p>
<p>“Well, really,” exclaimed a small Fire-balloon,
“why not? It is a most joyful occasion, and when I
soar up into the air I intend to tell the stars all about
it. You will see them twinkle when I talk to them about the
pretty bride.”</p>
<p>“Ah! what a trivial view of life!” said the
Rocket; “but it is only what I expected. There is
nothing in you; you are hollow and empty. Why, perhaps the
Prince and Princess may go to live in a country where there is a
deep river, and perhaps they may have one only son, a little
fair-haired boy with violet eyes like the Prince himself; and
perhaps some day he may go out to walk with his nurse; and
perhaps the nurse may go to sleep under a great elder-tree; and
perhaps the little boy may fall into the deep river and be
drowned. What a terrible misfortune! Poor people, to
lose their only son! It is really too dreadful! I
shall never get over it.”</p>
<p>“But they have not lost their only son,” said the
Roman Candle; “no misfortune has happened to them at
all.”</p>
<p>“I never said that they had,” replied the Rocket;
“I said that they might. If they had lost their only
son there would be no use in saying anything more about the
matter. I hate people who cry over spilt milk. But
when I think that they might lose their only son, I certainly am
very much affected.”</p>
<p>“You certainly are!” cried the Bengal Light.
“In fact, you are the most affected person I ever
met.”</p>
<p>“You are the rudest person I ever met,” said the
Rocket, “and you cannot understand my friendship for the
Prince.”</p>
<p>“Why, you don’t even know him,” growled the
Roman Candle.</p>
<p>“I never said I knew him,” answered the
Rocket. “I dare say that if I knew him I should not
be his friend at all. It is a very dangerous thing to know
one’s friends.”</p>
<p>“You had really better keep yourself dry,” said
the Fire-balloon. “That is the important
thing.”</p>
<p>“Very important for you, I have no doubt,”
answered the Rocket, “but I shall weep if I choose”;
and he actually burst into real tears, which flowed down his
stick like rain-drops, and nearly drowned two little beetles, who
were just thinking of setting up house together, and were looking
for a nice dry spot to live in.</p>
<p>“He must have a truly romantic nature,” said the
Catherine Wheel, “for he weeps when there is nothing at all
to weep about”; and she heaved a deep sigh, and thought
about the deal box.</p>
<p>But the Roman Candle and the Bengal Light were quite
indignant, and kept saying, “Humbug! humbug!” at the
top of their voices. They were extremely practical, and
whenever they objected to anything they called it humbug.</p>
<p>Then the moon rose like a wonderful silver shield; and the
stars began to shine, and a sound of music came from the
palace.</p>
<p>The Prince and Princess were leading the dance. They
danced so beautifully that the tall white lilies peeped in at the
window and watched them, and the great red poppies nodded their
heads and beat time.</p>
<p>Then ten o’clock struck, and then eleven, and then
twelve, and at the last stroke of midnight every one came out on
the terrace, and the King sent for the Royal Pyrotechnist.</p>
<p>“Let the fireworks begin,” said the King; and the
Royal Pyrotechnist made a low bow, and marched down to the end of
the garden. He had six attendants with him, each of whom
carried a lighted torch at the end of a long pole.</p>
<p>It was certainly a magnificent display.</p>
<p>Whizz! Whizz! went the Catherine Wheel, as she spun round and
round. Boom! Boom! went the Roman Candle. Then
the Squibs danced all over the place, and the Bengal Lights made
everything look scarlet. “Good-bye,” cried the
Fire-balloon, as he soared away, dropping tiny blue sparks.
Bang! Bang! answered the Crackers, who were enjoying themselves
immensely. Every one was a great success except the
Remarkable Rocket. He was so damp with crying that he could
not go off at all. The best thing in him was the gunpowder,
and that was so wet with tears that it was of no use. All
his poor relations, to whom he would never speak, except with a
sneer, shot up into the sky like wonderful golden flowers with
blossoms of fire. Huzza! Huzza! cried the Court; and the
little Princess laughed with pleasure.</p>
<p>“I suppose they are reserving me for some grand
occasion,” said the Rocket; “no doubt that is what it
means,” and he looked more supercilious than ever.</p>
<p>The next day the workmen came to put everything tidy.
“This is evidently a deputation,” said the Rocket;
“I will receive them with becoming dignity” so he put
his nose in the air, and began to frown severely as if he were
thinking about some very important subject. But they took
no notice of him at all till they were just going away.
Then one of them caught sight of him. “Hallo!”
he cried, “what a bad rocket!” and he threw him over
the wall into the ditch.</p>
<p>“<span class="smcap">Bad</span> Rocket? <span
class="smcap">Bad</span> Rocket?” he said, as he whirled
through the air; “impossible! <span
class="smcap">Grand</span> Rocket, that is what the man
said. <span class="smcap">Bad</span> and <span
class="smcap">Grand</span> sound very much the same, indeed they
often are the same”; and he fell into the mud.</p>
<p>“It is not comfortable here,” he remarked,
“but no doubt it is some fashionable watering-place, and
they have sent me away to recruit my health. My nerves are
certainly very much shattered, and I require rest.”</p>
<p>Then a little Frog, with bright jewelled eyes, and a green
mottled coat, swam up to him.</p>
<p>“A new arrival, I see!” said the Frog.
“Well, after all there is nothing like mud. Give me
rainy weather and a ditch, and I am quite happy. Do you
think it will be a wet afternoon? I am sure I hope so, but
the sky is quite blue and cloudless. What a
pity!”</p>
<p>“Ahem! ahem!” said the Rocket, and he began to
cough.</p>
<p>“What a delightful voice you have!” cried the
Frog. “Really it is quite like a croak, and croaking
is of course the most musical sound in the world. You will
hear our glee-club this evening. We sit in the old duck
pond close by the farmer’s house, and as soon as the moon
rises we begin. It is so entrancing that everybody lies
awake to listen to us. In fact, it was only yesterday that
I heard the farmer’s wife say to her mother that she could
not get a wink of sleep at night on account of us. It is
most gratifying to find oneself so popular.”</p>
<p>“Ahem! ahem!” said the Rocket angrily. He
was very much annoyed that he could not get a word in.</p>
<p>“A delightful voice, certainly,” continued the
Frog; “I hope you will come over to the duck-pond. I
am off to look for my daughters. I have six beautiful
daughters, and I am so afraid the Pike may meet them. He is
a perfect monster, and would have no hesitation in breakfasting
off them. Well, good-bye: I have enjoyed our conversation
very much, I assure you.”</p>
<p>“Conversation, indeed!” said the Rocket.
“You have talked the whole time yourself. That is not
conversation.”</p>
<p>“Somebody must listen,” answered the Frog,
“and I like to do all the talking myself. It saves
time, and prevents arguments.”</p>
<p>“But I like arguments,” said the Rocket.</p>
<p>“I hope not,” said the Frog complacently.
“Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good
society holds exactly the same opinions. Good-bye a second
time; I see my daughters in the distance;” and the little Frog swam
away.</p>
<p>“You are a very irritating person,” said the
Rocket, “and very ill-bred. I hate people who talk
about themselves, as you do, when one wants to talk about
oneself, as I do. It is what I call selfishness, and
selfishness is a most detestable thing, especially to any one of
my temperament, for I am well known for my sympathetic
nature. In fact, you should take example by me; you could
not possibly have a better model. Now that you have the
chance you had better avail yourself of it, for I am going back
to Court almost immediately. I am a great favourite at
Court; in fact, the Prince and Princess were married yesterday in
my honour. Of course you know nothing of these matters, for
you are a provincial.”</p>
<p>“There is no good talking to him,” said a
Dragon-fly, who was sitting on the top of a large brown bulrush;
“no good at all, for he has gone away.”</p>
<p>“Well, that is his loss, not mine,” answered the
Rocket. “I am not going to stop talking to him merely
because he pays no attention. I like hearing myself
talk. It is one of my greatest pleasures. I often
have long conversations all by myself, and I am so clever that
sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am
saying.”</p>
<p>“Then you should certainly lecture on Philosophy,”
said the Dragon-fly; and he spread a pair of lovely gauze wings
and soared away into the sky.</p>
<p>“How very silly of him not to stay here!” said the
Rocket. “I am sure that he has not often got such a
chance of improving his mind. However, I don’t care a
bit. Genius like mine is sure to be appreciated some
day”; and he sank down a little deeper into the mud.</p>
<p>After some time a large White Duck swam up to him. She
had yellow legs, and webbed feet, and was considered a great
beauty on account of her waddle.</p>
<p>“Quack, quack, quack,” she said. “What
a curious shape you are! May I ask were you born like that,
or is it the result of an accident?”</p>
<p>“It is quite evident that you have always lived in the
country,” answered the Rocket, “otherwise you would
know who I am. However, I excuse your ignorance. It
would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as
oneself. You will no doubt be surprised to hear that I can
fly up into the sky, and come down in a shower of golden
rain.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think much of that,” said the Duck,
“as I cannot see what use it is to any one. Now, if
you could plough the fields like the ox, or draw a cart like the
horse, or look after the sheep like the collie-dog, that would be
something.”</p>
<p>“My good creature,” cried the Rocket in a very
haughty tone of voice, “I see that you belong to the lower
orders. A person of my position is never useful. We
have certain accomplishments, and that is more than
sufficient. I have no sympathy myself with industry of any
kind, least of all with such industries as you seem to
recommend. Indeed, I have always been of opinion that hard
work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to
do.”</p>
<p>“Well, well,” said the Duck, who was of a very
peaceable disposition, and never quarrelled with any one,
“everybody has different tastes. I hope, at any rate,
that you are going to take up your residence here.”</p>
<p>“Oh! dear no,” cried the Rocket. “I am
merely a visitor, a distinguished visitor. The fact is that
I find this place rather tedious. There is neither society
here, nor solitude. In fact, it is essentially
suburban. I shall probably go back to Court, for I know
that I am destined to make a sensation in the world.”</p>
<p>“I had thoughts of entering public life once
myself,” remarked the Duck; “there are so many things
that need reforming. Indeed, I took the chair at a meeting
some time ago, and we passed resolutions condemning everything
that we did not like. However, they did not seem to have
much effect. Now I go in for domesticity, and look after my
family.”</p>
<p>“I am made for public life,” said the Rocket,
“and so are all my relations, even the humblest of
them. Whenever we appear we excite great attention. I
have not actually appeared myself, but when I do so it will be a
magnificent sight. As for domesticity, it ages one rapidly,
and distracts one’s mind from higher things.”</p>
<p>“Ah! the higher things of life, how fine they
are!” said the Duck; “and that reminds me how hungry
I feel”: and she swam away down the stream, saying,
“Quack, quack, quack.”</p>
<p>“Come back! come back!” screamed the Rocket,
“I have a great deal to say to you”; but the Duck
paid no attention to him. “I am glad that she has
gone,” he said to himself, “she has a decidedly
middle-class mind”; and he sank a little deeper still into
the mud, and began to think about the loneliness of genius, when
suddenly two little boys in white smocks came running down the
bank, with a kettle and some faggots.</p>
<p>“This must be the deputation,” said the Rocket,
and he tried to look very dignified.</p>
<p>“Hallo!” cried one of the boys, “look at
this old stick! I wonder how it came here”; and he
picked the rocket out of the ditch.</p>
<p>“<span class="smcap">Old</span> Stick!” said the
Rocket, “impossible! <span class="smcap">Gold</span>
Stick, that is what he said. Gold Stick is very
complimentary. In fact, he mistakes me for one of the Court
dignitaries!”</p>
<p>“Let us put it into the fire!” said the other boy,
“it will help to boil the kettle.”</p>
<p>So they piled the faggots together, and put the Rocket on top,
and lit the fire.</p>
<p>“This is magnificent,” cried the Rocket,
“they are going to let me off in broad day-light, so that
every one can see me.”</p>
<p>“We will go to sleep now,” they said, “and
when we wake up the kettle will be boiled”; and they lay
down on the grass, and shut their eyes.</p>
<p>The Rocket was very damp, so he took a long time to
burn. At last, however, the fire caught him.</p>
<p>“Now I am going off!” he cried, and he made
himself very stiff and straight. “I know I shall go
much higher than the stars, much higher than the moon, much
higher than the sun. In fact, I shall go so high
that—”</p>
<p>Fizz! Fizz! Fizz! and he went straight up into the air.</p>
<p>“Delightful!” he cried, “I shall go on like
this for ever. What a success I am!”</p>
<p>But nobody saw him.</p>
<p>Then he began to feel a curious tingling sensation all over
him.</p>
<p>“Now I am going to explode,” he cried.
“I shall set the whole world on fire, and make such a noise
that nobody will talk about anything else for a whole
year.” And he certainly did explode. Bang!
Bang! Bang! went the gunpowder. There was no doubt about
it.</p>
<p>But nobody heard him, not even the two little boys, for they
were sound asleep.</p>
<p>Then all that was left of him was the stick, and this fell
down on the back of a Goose who was taking a walk by the side of
the ditch.</p>
<p>“Good heavens!” cried the Goose. “It
is going to rain sticks”; and she rushed into the
water.</p>
<p>“I knew I should create a great sensation,” gasped
the Rocket, and he went out.</p>
<div class="gapspace"> </div>
<p style="text-align: center">Printed by <span
class="smcap">Ballantyne</span> & <span class="smcap">Co.
Limited</span><br />
Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p117b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Decorative graphic of bird"
title=
"Decorative graphic of bird"
src="images/p117s.jpg" />
</a></p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
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