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Few books since have captivated me the way Oscar Wildes Happy Prince
and Other Stories did when I was a child. One of my fondest childhood
memories is my mother reading aloud to me from a beautifully illustrated
copy at bedtime and trying her hardest to patiently answer my questions
about the stories meanings. The book was full of moral messages which
Wilde managed to deliver in a way that was infinitely more subtle than
anything else I had read or been read until that point.

My favourite story was entitled The Nightingale and the Rose. It tells of a
student who was in love with a girl from high society. The girl promises the
student that she will accompany him to a dance the following day if he
brings her a red rose. A nightingale overhears the student declaring his
deep love for the girl while lamenting the absence in his garden of the red
rose that would win her heart. Moved by the boys love for the girl, the
nightingale asks all the rosebushes to produce a red rose for him, finally
sacrificing his own life to produce one coloured by his own blood. The
student picks the rose and presents it to his love, only for her to reject him
having been offered jewels by another suitor.

Wildes commentary on materialism and the nature of love are complex

themes for young minds. Nevertheless, it was through discussing these
ideas with my mother that I was able to truly engage with the morality of
the story. Until then, most fiction I had been exposed to presented its
moral messages in far more obvious terms. I believe that the level of
critical thought required to understand Wildes work makes books such as
The Happy Prince so much richer than most other childrens literature
and this need is as pressing today as it was when I was a child.
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