The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

"The Selfish Giant" and "The Happiest Prince" are some of the best stories ever written. Poor, tortured Oscar Wilde--how did he turn out such beautiful stuff??? A beautiful soul in a tormented body perhaps. I love these stories--everyone should read them multiple times.

The perfect Christmas read I say!

And also get ready for some self reflection when you read each of these stories.

“So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read.”

The writing is so beautiful and soothing. Every story reads like a beautiful memorable song singing everyone’s deepest thoughts and feelings.

“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.”

I find this collection so good. However, I want the edition with all the short stories by the author. The writing brings some bitter truths in each story.

“BAD and GRAND sound very much the same, indeed they often are the same.”

*The Happy Prince 5

Niestety nie widzę wydania, w którym czytałam tylko opowiadanie „Szczęśliwy książę”, więc zaznaczam tu, że oceniam tylko i wyłącznie je.

“I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments.”

These are a lot like Andersen's tales - fairy-tale kind of prose, talking objects, often with sad elements and sad endings. Add to it, Wilde's popular witticisms. The Rose and Nightingale is one of the most beautiful stories I have read.

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”

“Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.”

“I hate people who talk about themselves, as you do, when one wants to talk about oneself, as I do. ”

“He must have a truly romantic nature, for he weeps when there is nothing at all to weep about.”

“I like hearing myself talk. It is one of my greatest pleasures. I often have long conversations all by myself,”

“What is a sensitive person?” said the Cracker to the Roman Candle. “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.”

I have yet something to read by Oscar and NOT be enchanted by it. This collection of short stories was really cute and every Story had a great Moral (even though most of them weren't happy at all).

The Happy Prince
I listened to Stephen Fry's reading of this tale and then read it for myself again.
This is Oscar's brilliant portrayal of the shallowness of human beings and how People who are generous and compassionate will get rewarded in the end.

High 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. He was very much admired indeed.

I loved the simplicity of the Story. One day a Little swallow encounters the statue of the Happy Prince and they become friends. The Happy Prince is sad because of the strenous lives that the poor People in his City have to lead and he wants to help them. He manages to do so with the help of the Swallow. The swallow who should be on his way to a warmer place, stays with the Prince upon learning that being generous and not self-centered (giving up one's needs) can make one happy in life.
First the swallow delivers the Happy Prince's ruby to a worn out seamstress who gets nothing but accusations of her employer. Then, the Happy Prince gives up his eyes (the Sapphires) to help a Student of a theatre Professor who is suffering from hunger and work. Lastly the swallow delivers the Gold of the Happy Prince's Skin to a Little match Girl who would have otherwise been beaten by her dad for not making enough Money that day.

After being stripped from all his possessions the Happy Prince wants the swallow to finally fly to Egypt but it is too late, the swallow dies from the cold. The heart of the Happy Prince snaps in two and the statue gets a curious crack.

When the rich People in the town (Mayor & Co.) see that the Prince Looks now "Little better than a beggar" they decide to tore his statue down and replace it with a statue of the Mayor himself.

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.

The ending of the Story left me uneasy. Of course it is great that God is rewarding the Swallow and the Happy Prince and grants them entry in Heaven but the last lines are terrifying:

'for in my garden of Paradise this Little bird shalal sing for evermore, and in my City of Gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.'

I'm not sure if Oscar's wording is a Little out of place here or if he really wanted to Show that God is probs not better than the human on earth and that he sees himself superior and all the others are just his slaves. I have to Research that a Little bit.

I loved the loyalty and the bond that the swallow and the Happy Prince had and how much the swallow actually gave up to Support the Happy Prince in his wishes to make the world a better place.
This tale was a brilliant portrayal of shallowness and hypocrisy. Chapeau!

The Nightingale and the Rose
Another tale that was beautifully crafted but didn't leave you with much faith in humanity.

'She said that she would Dance with me if I brought her red roses,' cried the Young Student, 'but in my garden there is no red rose.'

It is about how fast the Feelings of People can Change and that declarations of love don't have to be ernest in this day and Age.
A Little nightingale upon seeing the student's Desperation (about not being able to Dance with his Sweetheart) sets out to confront the big Rose-tree (who is not in blossom) to produce a rose for her. The Tree tells her that if she wants a red rose she has to give up her own life (her blood must make the rose red). The Nightingale agrees because:

Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man.

After the nightingale sacrificed her life the Student sees the reddest rose in the Tree beneath his window, plucks it and offers it to his Sweetheart. She is not impressed at all (because the rose doesn't match her ball gown), he calls her ungrateful, she calls him rude and they part ways.

'What a silly Thing Love is!' said the Student as he walked away. 'It is not half as useful as Logic [...] 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.'

I loved Oscar's snarky remark on education and how ungrateful People are and that there are probs no more real romantics out there. Quite the heartbreaking and depressing tale.


The Selfish Giant
This was the only short Story that I was quite underwhelmed by because it was so straight Forward, no surpises. It is about a Giant who upon returning to his home after 7 years finds out that Little Kids started playing in his garden. He is disturbed by the laughter, builds a fence and doesn't allow the children to Play there anymore. This has tragic consequences, the trees wither and happiness leaves the place, it is alltime winter and spring won't come. Then one day through a Little hole in the wall the children creep back into the garden and the trees blossom again and spring Comes.
The Giant learned from his mistake and realizes how great sharing and laughter is:

'I have many beautiful flowers,' he said; 'but children are the most beautiful flowers of all.'

At the end of the Story when the Giant days he is allowed to live in Paradise because of his generosity (just like the Happy Prince).

The Devoted Friend
This was truly an interesting and captivating read because one of the characters was truly infuriating and I hated him very much. ;)

This Story is about Little Hans who does everything for his 'friend' the Miller. The Miller is quite the self-centered man and uses Hans to full capacity. It was infuriating because he didn't reflect his behaviour at all and made Hans feel guilty when he said he couldn't help. And the Miller always made it seem as if he was doing Hans a favor by loading all the work on his shoulders. Arrrgh, how I hate People like that.

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.

The sad and partly realistic Portion of this Piece is the naivety of Hans, he really thinks that the miller is a great friend and therefore does everything as he wishes.

At the end of this tale Little Hans drowned (whilst being a stupid errand for the fucking Miller) and the Miller has the indecency to Show up at his funeral and cry the loudest and being a fuckboy all over again:

[Miller talking about his wheelbarrow] I will certainly take care not to give away anything again. One certainly sufffers from being generous.

BITCH STFU

And once again this tale is linked with the others with its themes of how the generous don't get properly recognized in the world and shallow People win....

The Remarkable Rocket
This was quite fun to read because the Rocket was just such a ridiculous character. The Rocket is basically a know-it-all and hardass and thinks he's better than all the other rockets that will be fired on the wedding day of the Young Prince.

Nice social commentary on Oscar's part:

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,

The Rocket acutally reminded me of Algernon from The Importance of Being Earnest

'You were talking about yourself' replied the Roman Candle.
'Of course; I knew I was discussing some interesting subject when I was so rudely interrupted.

But on the wedding day not all fireworks are set off rightly and the Rocket doesn't go off and gets thrown in the bushes nearby. There some Kids find him and light him but they don't see him take off because they're already asleep. The irony of the Scene is that the Rocket is so conceited that he doesn't even realize that nobody gave a shit about him. It was quite ridiculous.

'I knew I should cause a great Sensation,' gasped the Rocket, and he went out.

The Portrait of Mr. W. H.
This Story really doesn't fit in with the rest because it is no fairytale at all. It is Oscar being a huge dork and writing 50 pages about a theory about whom Shakespeare might have dedicated his Sonnets to. It was beautiful. By far my favorite of this collection because I just recently read the Sonnets and revisiting them in the context of a short Story and Analysis was just damn interesting.

The theory goes as follows: Shakespeare had a Muse. And that Muse was none other than a beautiful Young Actor of his Company. Shakespeare supposedly wrote characters especially for him to play. I loved this theory and how it was interwoven with the short story. Oscar probs liked this theory because of his homoerotical tones, too.

So, let's talk about the frame story first:
It starts out with the friend of a man named Erskine (this friend is the narrator of the story). By Erskeine he learns of the Willie Hughes theory and that another friend of Erskine - Cyril Graham - discovered it and became obsessed with it. Cyril tried to convince Erskine of its truth (historical evidence) by faking a portrait of Willie Hughes. When Erskine finds out that the portrait was fake, his doubts arise again and upon seeing no other way Cyril kills himself to prove its truth.

Erskine recounts these events to the narrator who is then becoming more obsessed with the theory and starts his own research and digs up more textual proof (the theory is basically based on the fact that Shakespeare dedicated the poems to the Fair Youth to whom the Sonnets are adressed by the 'lyrisches Ich').

I felt as if I had my hand upon Shakespeare's heart, and was counting each separate throb and pulse of passion.

I really liked that Oscar also commented on the whole "you have to marry" tone of the first few Sonnets because that made no sense to me when I read the Sonnets for myself. The explanation that is offered here satisfies me deeply. The "lyrisches Ich" doesn't want the young man to marry a WOMAN but to marry his ART:

The children he begs him to beget are no children of flesh and blood, but more immortal children of undying fame. The whole cycle of the early sonnets is simply Shakespeare's invitation to Willie Hughes to go upon the stage and becaome a player.

I also liked the commentary on the Dark Woman poems and that in this theory we assume that a woman fell in love with Willie Hughes (or with his acting) and that Shakespeare feared that she would corrupt him and keep him from working with Shakespeare. And that then Shakespeare mad with jealousy tries to fascinate the woman himself (so that her focus would shift from Willie Hughes) but then Shakespear finds himself dominated by this woman as well.

After presenting the evidence to Erskine he suddenly loses all faith in the theory itself, Erskine's belief however is renewed. (the roles have been reversed basically)

Months pass and the narrator receives a letter from Erskenie which makes him assume that Erskine is going to commit suicide just like Graham and rushes to his aid. He goes to his hotel in Cannes and finds him dead. He then learns by a doctor that Erskine did in fact not commit suicide but was suffering from a lingering illness that Erskine had known about for some months (he wanted to die in Cannes).
I loved Oscar's snarky commentary on Erskine's shady actions, it's actually one of my favorite quotes from this play.

Poor Erskine! I had grown wiser since I had seen him. Martyrdom was to me merely a tragic form of scepticism, an attempt to realise by fire what one had failed to do by faith. No man dies for what he knows to be true.

The narrator hangs the portrait of Mr. W. H. in his home and whenever visitors comment on it, he doesn't tell its history, however he still wonders from time to time whether or not the theory was actually true.

The reason why I am personally so obsessed with this short story is that I share Oscar's (the narrator's) enthusiasm for this theory. It is hella fascinating and the actual textual proof is great. It shed a completely different light on the Sonnets and how to interpret them. I also greatly appreciated that Shakespeare's puns were specifically pointed out and explained because I am too stupid to get things like that for myself.

And also cudos to Oscar for finally making me look up for Folio and Quarto really means, I was always so confused when I read the commentary portion of his plays. :D

Favorite quotes:

It is always fatal to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal.

'You forget that a thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

Were they right? Are they right? I did not think so then. I do not think so now.

Suddenly he finds that what his tongue had spoken his soul had listened to,

His true tomb, as Shakespeare saw, was the poet's verse, his true monument the permanence of the drama.

Short stories with morals, I love that!
As always, many thanks Hitessh for the great recommendation!

There is something distinctive about these stories by Oscar Wilde that sets them apart from other fairytales. Something that is both deeply beautiful and also very unsettling. I have always wanted to figure out what precisely. I believe it is a particular humor - at times dark (who doesn't know of Wilde's biting wit and satire) - combined with the fact that like all-known fairytales Wilde doesn't shy away from describing the dark and gloomy facets of life. Yet at the same time there is something glorious and heartfelt about his depiction of the comely and the noble; almost like the ardent tribute of an aesthete and a lover of the beautiful, which he was.

The titular and very well-known 'The Happy Prince' is not just deeply picturesque, full of pathos and melancholic but also brutal in its depiction of self-sacrifice - the plucking of his sapphire eyes and the swallow that froze to death while doing The Happy Prince's bidding and hence couldn't fly away from the cold to the distant and warm Egypt. There is great empathy and a staunch denunciation of the material but also suffering, defacement and death and no attempt to romanticize it. It is the same with the 'Selfish Giant' who wouldn't allow children in his garden but eventually finds true bliss in sharing it with children; and spring as it turns out comes only when he is generous. But here too there is a reminder of something painful - of the stigmata that appears on the body of the young child you first came to his garden - even if it also means redemption. I find Oscar Wilde in that sense quite similar to C.S.Lewis in terms of how christian symbolism, ideology and allegory permeate their stories for children.

'The Devoted Friend' is about the exploitation of innocence; of little Hans and the manipulative miller - a reminder about the wicked world out there. While christian charity and self-sacrifice is much on display and extolled the purveyor of these attributes meets a rather tragic end. Once again a dark story, though for Wilde the pathos and the tragedy is redemptive and a natural and acceptable outcome of utterly unselfish behavior and sacrifice.

'The Remarkable Rocket' is about pride having a fall, and is full of wit and sarcasm. Yet once again it is ultimately melancholic - one cannot but help feeling sorry for the pompous Rocket and its inglorious end. This story does have some really enjoyable dialogues and mannerisms a la Wilde.

'The Nightingale and the Rose' is again quintessentially Wilde - rapturous in its description of beauty and blunt and ruthless in its expose of beauty's ephemeral nature. Once again, self-sacrifice that is cruel and painful (with the nightingale piercing its heart with a thorn as it sings in order to add feeling to it and to create a red rose for the young suitor), the harsh societal judgments on the artist, the beloved's materialism, and the sheer waste of the crimson rose created by the heroic and selfless nightingale's blood. So even though love may be perfected by death as the narrator says, this is one bitter outcome. How many such ardent and devoted lives have come to such bitter ends.

'The Young King' is about the meaningless nature of pomp and glory with release and redemption lying in the discovery of charity, selflessness, generosity and empathy. The Buddha-like the young king discovers what contrasts, inequities and injustices the world is constituted of; he dreams and lives through the unimaginable horrors that he never imagined but that constitute others' everyday lives. But when he decides to opt for simplicity and largesse as his approaches to ruling, it appears to shock all classes of his subjects. Only the intervention of the miraculous seems to redeem, elevate and consolidate him.

'The Birthday of the Infanta' has a majestic Spanish setting and glorious, colorful and highly evocative descriptions, as in all Wilde stories. There is unrequited love, cruel mockery, unappreciated sincerity and a tragic demise once more - this time of an ugly hunchbacked dancing dwarf - as well as apathy to real suffering. This Wilde seems to suggest is the way of the world, in particular of the high and mighty, whether you like it or not.

'The Star-Child' is a treat to read for it is so beautifully written in a diction that is very much Wilde's. Beauty once again appears and is commingled with cruelty. There is a fall from grace and redemption only comes through penance, generosity and acts of kindness. The protagonist recovers and is a source of benediction for others. But cruelty follows after him. Always. For that is the way of the world.

'The Fisherman and his Soul' is again a highly evocative story, told beautifully and deceptively like an old-fashioned fairytale but darker than the darkest of them. Pursuit of love here - to live under water with a mermaid - requires getting rid of the soul; which equates the shadow and is tantamount to literally cutting it off from the body. The soul sets off on its own adventures and what adventures they are - exotic, intriguing, enigmatic, always pleading with the fisherman to rejoin with him. What follows is a fairly complex story with Wilde's recurrent themes of pining, penance, sacrifice, tragedy and redemption.

Beauty, cruelty, sacrifice and redemption. Christian largesse and boldness in the face of persecution. Turning the other cheek and yet also evil resurging again and again. Wilde gives hope and yet also fuels despair. He throws light on the truly noble and yet also underlines the resilience of wickedness. These are complex tales for those who seek innocence but know well what sin is all about.

These stories are very … well … Oscar Wilde-ish. They're well-written and sometimes humorous and also more than just a little preachy.

Every reviewer for this book seems to have read a different set of stories depending on their edition, but my audiobook contained the following: “The Happy Prince,” “The Remarkable Rocket,” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” “The Selfish Giant,” “The Devoted Friend,” “The Young King,” and “The Star Child.”

My favorite of the bunch was perhaps “The Remarkable Rocket,” a story about a rocket (of the fireworks variety) who thinks very highly of himself. It's very heavy-handed in it's moralizing, but it's also humorous and lighthearted and you maybe can't help but feel a little bad for the obnoxious rocket.

My least favorite story was without a doubt “The Nightingale and the Rose” because WTF, Oscar Wilde? That story is soul-crushing and I hate that it's forever in my head now.

My overall rating: 3.85 stars, rounded up. I love Oscar Wilde and these tales are some of his best, although it'd be nice if every story didn't wind up as a surprise christian parable at the end.