the happy prince and other tales by oscar wilde ราคา 180

Each little story is a beautifully told allegory touching to the heart. You will never be too old or too young to appreciate the marvellous moral in each story.

The stories in this collection are: The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend, and The Remarkable Rocket. 

Many of my favourite epigrams come from this collection. Here are a few gems (of many):

"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."

"Everyone quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand."

"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 I sometimes don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

Wilde shows his softer side, yet retaining his ironic humour, exploring themes such as compassion, friendship, altruism, selfishness, love, self-awareness, and kindness. The fairy tales are simple yet engaging, with some very likeable characters, and also some very detestable characters we can all relate to. 

The characters, often animals or inanimate objects feel so real and natural with clear personalities exactly like people in society. We have probably met a real-life version of the boastful, pretentious, and arrogant Remarkable Rocket (the type of person I want to punch in the face!); and of the very kind and innocent little Hans. This is true for the minor characters as well as the major ones: such as the yes-men Town Councillors, the ignorant Water-rat, and the extremely materialistic girl.

It is this realness of the characters which really captivated me. Wilde's subtle yet cynical satire of society is still perfectly relevant today. With such short stories, it is a wonder how Wilde managed to integrate such accurate and distinguished characters.

The short stories evoke great emotion too. I felt happy, sad, annoyed and disappointed at times, sharing the characters' experiences. The stories may not leave you with a happy feeling, but that is precisely why they make such good reading: a story that can make you feel very sad or very annoyed is a good story, since it evokes a strong emotional response. These tales certainly do that. 

Precious few writers can do this, let alone in simple fairy tales. For me, no one writes as charismatically as Oscar Wilde. He makes great writing look so simple and easy. This work is elegantly written with fine little details and plenty to be admired again and again. My personal favourite in this collection is The Happy Prince, although it was extremely difficult to choose amongst these lovely little stories.

If you do yourself one favour today, have a read of one these fairy tales. They are such a joy to read. If you love these stories as much as I do we can be best friends. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!