When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. "Do you have anything to send to Egypt?" he cried; "I am just starting."

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me one night longer?"

"My friends are waiting for me in Egypt," answered the Swallow. "Tomorrow my friends will fly up to the Second Tomb [·??1]. The river horse sits there among the reeds and on a great stone throne [King's chair] sits the God Memnon. All night long he watches the stars and when day breaks he makes a 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 [?ì±|êˉ], and their roar is louder than the roar of thunder.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "far away across the city I see a young man in a small room. He is sitting by a desk covered with papers and in a glass by his side there is a bunch of old violets [×??Tà?]. His hair is brown. His lips are red as an apple and he has large, dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play but he is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the room and hunger has made him tired."

"I will wait with you one night longer," said the Swallow, who really had a good heart. "Shall I take him another ruby?"

"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 and buy food and firewood. He can then finish his play."

"Dear Prince," said the Swallow, "I cannot do that" and he began to weep.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I order you."

So the Swallow plucked [took] out the Prince's eye, and flew away to the student's room. It was easy enough to get in because there was a hole in the roof. The young man had his head buried [covered] in his hands, so he did not hear the bird. When he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the violets.

"This is from some great admirer [someone who likes]." - he cried, "Now I can finish my play," and he looked quite happy.

The next day the Swallow flew down to the sea. He sat on the mast [?|??] of a large ship and watched the sailors lifting big boxes with ropes. "Heave a-hoy!" they shouted as each box came up. "I am going to Egypt!" cried the Swallow, but nobody heard. When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.

"I have come to say goodbye," he cried.

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me one night longer?"

"It is winter," answered the Swallow, "and the cold snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm trees [×?éμ,] and the crocodiles [?ùó?] lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My friends are building a nest in the Temple of Baalbec and the pink and white doves [??×ó] are watching them and cooing [doves sound] 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 [?é±|] 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."

"In the square below," said the Happy Prince, "there stands a little bread-girl. She has let her bread fall in the gutter [where dirty water runs] 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 socks and her little head is bare [wearing nothing]. Pluck out my other eye and give it to her so her father won't beat her."

"I will stay with you one night longer," said the Swallow, "but I cannot pluck out your eye. You will be blind then."

"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "do as I command [order] you."

So he plucked out the Prince's other eye and flew down with it. He flew down to the bread-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.

Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. "You are blind now," he said, "so I will stay with you always."

"No, little Swallow," said the poor Prince, "you must go away to Egypt."

"I will stay with you always," said the Swallow and he slept at the Prince's feet.

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 [type of bird] who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile and catch gold-fish in their beaks. He told him of the Sphinx [ê¨éíè?????] who is as old as the world itself and lives in the desert. He told him of the merchants [people who buy and sell] who walk slowly by the side of their camels. He told him of the King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony [?ú??] and worships a large diamond [×êêˉ]. He told him 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 [short people in Africa] who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves and are always at war with the butterflies.

"Dear little Swallow," said the Prince, "you tell me of strange things, but stranger than anything is the suffering of men and women. There is no Mystery [something unknown] so great as sadness. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see there."

So the Swallow flew over the great city and saw the rich enjoying in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew and saw the white faces of hungry children looking out with sad eyes at the black streets. Under a bridge two little boys were lying in one another's arms to keep themselves warm. "How hungry we are!" they said. "You must not lie here," shouted the Watchman [policeman], and they wandered out into the rain.

Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.

"I am covered with fine [pure] 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."

Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow removed, until the Happy Prince looked quite dull [???é] and gray. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor and the children's faces grew redder and they laughed and played games in the street. "We have food now!" they cried.

Then the snow came and after the snow it became very cold. The streets looked as if they were made of silver. They were so bright. Long icicles [sharp pieces of ice] hung down from the roofs of the houses. Everybody went out in furs [hair of animals] and the little boys wore wool caps and skated [????] on the ice.

The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince. He loved him too much. He picked up crumbs [small pieces] outside the baker's [??°ü·?] door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself warm by flapping [moving up and down] his wings.

But at last he knew that he was going to die. He just had strength to fly up to the Prince's shoulder once more. "Goodbye, dear Prince!" he murmured [said in a low voice], "will you let me kiss your hand?"

"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 because I love you."

"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?"

And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips and fell down dead at his feet.

At that moment a curious crack [±??¨éù] sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the lead heart had snapped [broken] in two. It certainly was a cold winter.

Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councilors [leaders]. As they passed the column he looked up at the statue: "Dear me! how dirty the Happy Prince looks!" he said.

"How dirty indeed!" cried the Town Councilors, who always agreed with the Mayor and they went up to look at it.

"The ruby has fallen out of his sword and his eyes are gone. He is no longer golden," said the Mayor, "he looks like a beggar!"

"Looks like a beggar," said the Town Councilors.

"And here is a dead bird at his feet!" continued the Mayor. "We must really make a law that birds are not to be allowed to die here." And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.

So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. Then they melted the statue in a furnace [???ˉ ] and the Mayor held a meeting 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."

"Of myself," said each of the Town Councilors and they fought. When I last heard of them they were still fighting.

"What a strange thing!" said the manager of the workmen, "This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away." So they threw it in a dustbin where the dead Swallow was also lying.

"Bring me the two most precious [important] things in the city," said God to one of His Angels. So the Angel brought Him the lead heart and the dead bird.

"You have chosen well," said God, "for in my garden this little bird shall sing and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me."