I understand the charm of fairy tales but never fully engage in them. This book is written by the master, Oscar Wilde, and I think that is the only reason I connected at all. He is an extraordinary writer. Everything he does enhances my assessment of him: he is a genius.

My reactions to the nine stories included in this volume were varied.

The most succesful:

The Happy Prince: 4.5 stars

A statue stands in a town where the members of the community stop to marvel at its beauty. But the statue used to be a wealthy prince; an only child. One day a flock of birds is on its way to Egypt for winter when one bird becomes separated from the rest. The bird settles down to sleep at the foot of the statue but finds it is crying! So what becomes of the bird and the prince? I won't tell, but the story is sweet, charming, heartwarming and proves that good deeds do pay off.

The Fisherman and his Soul: 4 stars

This is the love story of a young man and a young mermaid. He is told that he must leave his soul on earth to live in the sea with her. So, he goes to a witch and asks her to separate his soul from his body. The soul then asks the man for his heart as he is afraid to be separated. Of course the man wants to keep his heart so that he can continue to love the mermaid. The story is a sad one and despite the farfetched nature of fairy tales I found myself engrossed. It made me feel.

And the least succesful:

The Devoted Friend: 1 star

I really hated this story. I didn't find any warm or goodhearted moral in it. In fact, it felt like one "friend" convinced the other to act so far outside his own interests that he died. There was nothing redeeming in this tale.

The overall rating is just a result of a simple mathematical division. The only rating that really matters is the one for The Happy Prince. And it is a pure 5 stars!
I have read The Happy Price countless times and cried my eyes out again and again. But I would/will do it again, it's worth the pain! As for the other stories , I encountered them for the first time.
My ratings go like this:

The Happy Prince *****
Infinitely sad, infinitely perfect. Ultimate sacrifice made for the good of others, repaid in another life.

The Nightingale and the Rose ****
Almost as beautiful. Reminded me of The Thorn Birds (what a blast from the past; go figure...)

The Selfish Giant ***
The selfish giant won't allow village children to play in his beautiful garden. Gets punished for it. Realizes his mistake an make amends. All ends well.

The Devoted Friend **
Sacrifice to the point of stupidity. And for what? For whom?

The Remarkable Rocket **
The dialogues were great, the story pretty much ordinary.

The Young King ***
An orphan young shepherd ends up the heir to the throne. He is instantly enchanted by his new way of life, his palace, his clothes. Only after a series of dreams does he realize life outside the wealth of his castle is excruciatingly hard and painful. Which makes no sense because he lived that same life for fourteen years! Anyway, he renounces his wealth and is crowned as King in his shepherd's outfit, holding a wooden stick an wearing a crown of branches.
At points, it sounded more like a Sunday school moral story, than a fairy tale.

The Birthday of the Infanta *
Infanta is inconsiderate and spoiled little bitch. End of story.

The Fisherman and his Soul ****
Tough to judge. A story of the power of love with a not so happy ending? Again, Christian influence is extremely strong, but overall I liked the story very much.

The Star-Child ****
Beautiful premise and amazing writing at the beginning. A Star-Child fell from the sky wrapped in a cloak of gold embedded with stars and chain of amber around his neck. The rest of the story follows the predicable pattern; a happy ending after the child (now a young man) repents for his sins and rights his wrongs. I'm repeating myself but: strong Christian influence. Being a Christian myself it didn't exactly bother me, but annoyed me a little because it's not what I've bargained far. I wanted fairy tales, as simple as that.

5/5 φυσικά. Όταν ένα βιβλίο σε κάνει να δακρύσεις και μια (The Happy Prince) και δυο (The Nightingale and the Rose) και τρεις (The Selfish Giand) φορές, κάτι πρέπει να σημαίνει αυτό.
Δεν έχουν όλα τα παραμύθια αυτή τη δύναμη, ικανά να συνεπάρουν και να συγκινήσουν με μια τρυφερή μελαγχολία που δε γίνεται ποτέ διδακτική.
Πραγματικά υπέροχο.

PS: Αν ποτέ πέσει στα χέρια σας βιντεάκι με τον Ευτυχισμένο Πρίγκηπα με αφήγηση από το Δημήτρη Χορν ΜΗΝ το ακούσετε σε δημόσιο χώρο, λόγου χάριν σε μέσα μαζικής μεταφοράς ή - ακόμα χειρότερα- στο γυμναστήριο. Θυμηθείτε το θείο Γιάννη...

Short stories, simply, elegantly, affectingly and engagingly told.

I do really like Oscar Wilde, so giving this collectiont three stars pains me somewhat. It's not that they aren't well written, they're just incredibly sad and frustrating. "The Devoted Friend", for example, just annoyed me. There are no happy endings and, call me old fashioned, but I think happy endings in children's stories are a necessity. That being said I read "The Selfish Giant" many times as a child. Whether it did me any good or not remains to be seen!

From an analytical point of view I could talk until the cows come home about the religious content, the views of the aristocracy, Wilde's cynicism, the role of women etc etc etc. But the only thing I'm going to say is, they're good, they're not happy and I wouldn't read them to any future children I have, but they're not awful.

n  n    B.R.A.CE. 2021n  n ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ! Είναι επικίνδυνο να διαβάζεις παραμύθια με ηθικό δίδαγμα, υπάρχει πιθανότητα να σκεφτείς κι ακόμα χειρότερα να γίνεις έστω και λίγο καλύτερος άνθρωπος.

El príncipe feliz es una metáfora de los desniveles sociales a los que llegó la sociedad inglesa en momentos de la cruel revolución industrial. Con un lenguaje basado en las parábolas, Wilde cuenta con una brillante historia moralizante de fondo místico, mientras que en los otros admirables textos se exaltan los valores humanos.
Aparte del cuento que da origen al libro hay estos otros cuentos:
-El príncipe feliz 6.5/10.
-El ruiseñor y la rosa 6.5/10.
-El gigante egoísta 6/10.
-El amigo fiel 7.5/10.
-El cohete ilustre 6/10.
Estos son los que si incluyen dentro del libro " UNA CASA DE GRANADAS"
-El Joven Rey 6.5/10.
-El cumpleaños de la infanta 5.75/10.
-El pescador y su alma 7/10.
-El hijo de las estrellas 6.75/10.
Bastante bien en su conjunto como son sobre todos los primeros cuentos infantiles tienen una especie de moraleja cada uno de ellos.
Valoración: 6.5/10
# 2. Una corona en su portada. Reto Portadas 2024

Takiego Oscara Wilde'a jeszcze nie znałam, a im więcej jego twarzy poznaję, tym większą obdarzam go sympatią. Tym razem autor tworzy opowiastki z morałem dla młodszego czytelnika, w których bawi się wątkami religijnymi czy motywem dobra i zła, gdzie kara i nagroda wcale nie są tak oczywiste, jak to zwykle bywa. Ktoś skarany zostaje, gdy czyni dobro, ale kieruje się naiwnością. Ktoś nagrodę otrzymuje dopiero po śmierci. A jeszcze ktoś inny za życia dostaje karę, ale jest zbyt zakochany w sobie, by to zauważyć. Granica dobra i zła widoczna jest zwykle na pierwszy rzut oka, ale to tyle z oczywistości.

Wydawnictwo Zysk i Sk-a pięknie dopieściło tytuł ten ilustracjami Charlesa Robinsona czy Barbary i Przemysława Kida, a okładka Urszuli Gireń stanowi klimatyczne wrota do opowieści Wilde'a. Wizualnie jest więc cudnie, a pod względem treści jest... Hm. Przyjemnie i ciekawie. To chyba to. Nie są to bowiem najlepsze teksty autora, ale czuć w nich jego ducha, więc mi się podobają, choć są pozornie tak proste.

przekł. Jerzy Łoziński

Lovely tales. Read it as a little kid. Loved it beyond time and measure.
Q:
The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and the Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket (c)
Q:
"She has no conversation," he said, "and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind." (c)
Q:
So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.
"I have a golden bedroom," he said softly to himself ... (c)
Q:
"What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?" he said; "I must look for a good chimney-pot," ... (c)
Q:
"How wonderful the stars are," he said to her, "and how wonderful is the power of love!" (c)
Q:
"It is curious," he remarked, "but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold."
"That is because you have done a good action," said the Prince. (c)
Q:
"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." (c)
Q:
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." (c)
Q:
Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her, and her father will not beat her."
...
"I will stay with you one night longer," said the Swallow, "but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then."... (c)
Q:
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. (c)
Q:
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.
"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. (c)
Q:
"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. (c)
Q:
"We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die here." (c)
Q:
"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.
"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." (c)
Q:
Death is a great price to pay for a red rose (c)
Q:
"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. (c)
Q:
"What I 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... 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."
So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read. (c)
Q:
"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. (c)
Q:
"What disobedient children!" cried the old Water-rat; "they really deserve to be drowned."
"Nothing of the kind," answered the Duck, "every one must make a beginning, and parents cannot be too patient." (c)
Q:
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.' (c)
Q:
'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... (c)
Q:
"Is that the end of the story?" asked the Water-rat.
"Certainly not," answered the Linnet, "that is the beginning."
"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. (c) Oh, the wonders of modern storytelling...
Q:
"It is quite evident then that you have no sympathy in your nature," said the Water-rat.
"I am afraid you don't quite see the moral of the story," remarked the Linnet.
"The what?" screamed the Water-rat.
"The moral."
"Do you mean to say that the story has a moral?"
"Certainly," said the Linnet.
"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. (c)
Q:
"I am rather afraid that I have annoyed him... The fact is, that I told him a story with a moral."
"Ah! that is always a very dangerous thing to do," (c)
Q:
"Somebody must listen," answered the Frog, "and I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments."
"But I like arguments," said the Rocket.
"I hope not," said the Frog complacently. "Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everybody in good society holds exactly the same opinions. (c)
Q:
"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."
"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."
"Then you should certainly lecture on Philosophy," said the Dragonfly; (c)
Q:
"Quack, quack, quack,... What a curious shape you are! May I ask were you born like that, or is it the result of an accident?" (c)
Q:
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. (c)
Q:
"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. (c)
Q:
"Delightful!" he cried, "I shall go on like this for ever. What a success I am!" But nobody saw him. ... "I knew I should create a great sensation," (c)

A collection of five short stories. It's a quick and easy read. I loved some of the characters. Some of them were very amusing and comical at times.
More suitable for kids.

Bisher habe ich mich ja erfolgreich um Oscar Wildes Werke herummanövriert, dabei fiel mein Interesse schon recht früh auf seine Geschichten. Der "Dorian Gray" ist leider nach wie vor ungelesen, kam mir aber als stilistische Adonis-Narziss-Mischung bereits in Aufsätzen vor.
Wildes "Märchen" sind öfter eher Parabeln, Fabeln und traurige Kurzgeschichten mit märchenhaften Elementen. Die Metaphern sind angepasst-überbordernd, manchmal arg kitschig, aber trotzdem treffend und passend für diese merkwürdige Mischsorte an Kurztexten.
Es gibt keine typischen "Es war einmal..."-Anfänge und keine "und sie lebten glücklich bis an ihr Lebensende"-Enden, aber trotz allem sind all diese Geschichten zeitlich und räumlich enthoben, haben alle ein fantastisches Element und beziehen sich auf verschiedene europäische und orientalische Erzählmuster und -motive.
Was eher märchenuntypisch ist, ist die starke, oft religiös aufgeladene Verklärung des Todes. Mehr als die Hälfte der Kurzwerke enden mit dem Tod der Hauptfigur, dieser ist jedoch mehr Erlösung und Paradiesführung als das Leben, was dieser Mensch zuvor führte. Zudem lässt Wilde durchaus Beziehungen zwischen gleichgeschlechtlichen Figuren/Personen/Tierwesen/Objekten zu, was bei ihm womöglich in anderen Werken ebenfalls anzutreffen ist.
Mir hat dieser erste Einblick in Wildes Primärtexte [in Übersetzung: Reclamausgabe - 9783150202586] gut gefallen. Die vielfachen Einflüsse aus anderen Kulturen und die vielen Schmuckworte lassen doch auf noch größeres hoffen. :)
Lieblingsmärchen aus diesem Band: "Der glückliche Prinz".

تنهيييييدة :)
يالله
قصص قصيرة وبرغم صغرها وبساطتها بس بتلمسك
كُل قصة فيها وجع
وكُل قصة ليها ( مغزى أخلاقي ) زي ما قال الطائر في قصة الصديق المخلص

فكرة تغلغل الطبيعة في القصة بالطريقة دي
الحيوانات
والطيور
والزهور
والنجوم
وكُل حاجة في الطبيعة بتتكلم
بتعبّر عن نفسها , وعن احساسها

في الأجزاء اللى كانت الطبيعة بتتكلم فيها أو كان الكاتب بيوصف الطبيعة كُنت بحس براح مش عادي
براح وسلام نفسي
كأنك بتتأملها مش بتقراها

القصص كُلها تصدم وتوجع
مذهولة من براعتها
ازاى عبّر كدا وجمع كُل التفاصيل والمشاعر دي
الحب والتضحية والجمال والاخلاص والغفران
وازاى مقريتش ل أوسكار وايلد قبل كدا :)
#إبداع ^^