The Happy Prince is based on a story by Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde, 1854 to 1900, playwright and poet, achieved a unique reputation as a wit in the literary circles of late Victorian London. He is best remembered today for his plays, such as The Importance of Being Ernest, and his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde married and they had two children, both boys, for whom he wrote two books of fairy tales—The Happy Prince in 1888 and The House of Pomegranates in 1891. These stories show the serious side of Wilde's nature, presenting tender and enchanting fables in a deceptively simple classic fairy tale style.

The Happy Prince was adapted for the puppet stage by Emily Alexander. The puppets were designed by Joseph Bryan and Emily Alexander who also perform the show. The music score was composed and recorded by Carl Hinds.

A swallow, flying south for the winter, stops for the night on the shoulder of a great golden statue of the Happy Prince. The swallow discovers that the statue is crying because he is unable to help the needy people of his town. The ensuing partnership between the golden statue and the little swallow will touch the hearts of all.

Style of Puppetry

Several kinds of puppets are used in this play: hand-rod puppets, rod-marionettes, a bunraku puppet and the statue who is also used as a puppet.

• Happy Prince-Long ago, he was a joyful prince. Now he is a golden statue
• Swallow-A romantic young bird en route to Egypt for the winter
• Matchgirl-An impoverished child of about seven, struggling to make enough money to provide food for her father and herself
• Mayor-leader of the city—his priority is collecting as much money as possible
• Town Scribe-Assistant to the Mayor
• Student-A young playwright, living in poverty, struggling to finish his play
• Seamstress-A widow and mother of a young child
• Boy-The son of the seamstress, he is sick with a terrible fever
• Hand-Maiden- One of the Queen's ladies in waiting, she is wealthy and beautiful
• Lover-A young and handsome courtier, who is in love with the Hand-Maiden

Vocabulary

• Swallow-a bird that eats insects and migrates south for the winter
  
• Matchgirl-a child who sold matches that were made by hand
  
• Embroider-decorating cloth with designs created with a needle and thread
  
• Seamstress-a woman who sewed clothes by hand
  
• Playwright-a person who writes plays
  
• Mayor-leader of the city

1. Find out what your students know about swallows. Read the information on swallows found in the study guide to the students. Discuss what it means to migrate. What other birds migrate? Discuss what would happen to a swallow if it didn't migrate. Why would it die?

2. Have the students locate the following places on a map or globe:

• England/Great Britain/United Kingdon...where Oscar Wilde lived
  
• Italy...where the statue stands in a square
  
• Egypt...where the swallow is headed for the winter
  
• South Africa: where some swallows migrate
  
• South America: where North American swallows migrate in the winter
  

3. Read The Happy Prince.

4. Read other stories by Oscar Wilde from his books for children. The best known stories are: The Selfish Giant and The Nightingale and the Rose.

During the Performance

1. Identify which characters in the play are "good". These are characters we have sympathy for.
Identify which characters are "bad". These are characters we don't like.

2. Listen to the music. What does it make you feel? How does it add to the play?

After the Performance

1. Discuss which characters in the play are sympathetic or "good". Discuss which characters are unsympathetic or "bad". What qualities make us like some characters and dislike others?

2. Winter, although not personified as a character, is a danger to one of the characters? To whom is winter dangerous?

For younger students

• Use the enclosed pattern to create your own swallow.
  
• Draw a picture of what you liked best in the play. Tell or write why you liked it
  

For older students

• Oscar Wilde is known for his wit and also for his irony. Look up the meaning of irony and discuss how he uses this quality in his stories.
  
• Oscar Wilde put himself in the story as one of the characters. Which one?

The story of The Happy Prince is set in Italy, a country located on the continent of Europe. One of the main characters in The Happy Prince is a swallow. Unlike many birds, swallows do not eat food off the ground. Swallows hunt in flight, catching flying insects like mosquitoes and moths. Their bodies are well built for this purpose. Their long wings and forked tails allow them to dip, dive, twist, turn and swoop at high speeds. This makes catching their prey an easy task.

Swallows are widespread across Europe (including Italy) during the late spring and summer months when flying insects are plentiful. But as Autumn approaches and the weather grows colder, flying insects begin to disappear and the swallows must migrate to the continent of Africa where winters are warm and flying insects can still be found. Some swallows travel as far south as South Africa, the southern most country on the continent.

While most migrating birds fly several thousand feet above land, swallows travel at almost ground level. This allows them to obtain food while on the move. To drink, swallows skim low over the surface scooping water with open beaks.

In the early nineteenth century a famous European naturalist called Humboldt believed that swallows hibernated for the duration of the winter months in the mud at the bottom of ponds and marshy areas. People went on believing this for many years; they simply could not imagine that such tiny birds could fly more than one hundred and fifty miles a day in their long migration from Europe to Africa, some covering a total distance of over five thousand miles.

The Happy Prince was written in 1888 by Oscar Wilde, an Englishman. By that time Mr. Wilde, along with most other Europeans shared the correct idea that swallows did indeed travel south for the winter. In fact, the swallow in The Happy Prince talks excitedly of his own winter destination, the country of Egypt.

Here in the Western United States, swallows can be seen as early as April. In late July through October they journey south, just like their European cousins. But instead of traveling to Africa, these swallows migrate to the continent of South America, some traveling as far south as Argentina, the southern-most country on that continent. The longest recorded migration of a swallow stretched from Argentina to Alaska, a journey of more than seven thousand miles. Incredible!