Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales
This past week while I was working on an art project, I listened to Oscar Wilde's fairy tales on audiobook--more specifically, on YouTube. I had had a conversation with a writer friend recently in which he said he believed Oscar Wilde's fairy tales to be the best things he ever wrote. Since I was only familiar with a couple of them, I decided to explore the rest.
This picture pretty much sums up how the experience affected me:
Oscar Wilde published nine fairy tales in two volumes, The Happy Prince and Other Tales and The House of Pomegranates. I'll give you a brief teaser below for each of them, but rather than trying to explain what the stories meant to me, I encourage you to check them out for yourself.
They are in the public domain and therefore legally available for free. I really enjoyed listening to them on David Reid Audiobooks--he's not a professional voice actor and sometimes makes slight mistakes, but he has a nice and calming voice.
The Happy Prince
The Happy Prince tells the story of a swallow on his way to Egypt for the winter, who stops to rest for the night on a golden statue of a happy prince. But it turns out the prince is not so happy after all, as from his pedestal he observes all the suffering in his city.
The Nightingale and the Rose
A nightingale overhears a young man crying because he cannot provide the red rose his lady demands, and seeks a way to make the rose grow before morning.
The Selfish Giant
A giant returns after a journey to find his garden filled with children playing. He chases them away, only to realize that he misses them. But one mysterious child seems to have disappeared...
The Devoted Friend
This story explores the relationship between a poor gardner and his rich neighbor, the miller, and what it means to be a friend.
The Remarkable Rocket
The night before being set off at a prince's wedding to a Russian princess, a box full of fireworks have a discussion about which one of them will be the greatest.
The Young King
A young king has a dream where he goes and discovers the places where all his riches come from.
The Birthday of the Infanta
A hunchbacked dwarf is brought in to entertain at the birthday of a Spanish princess, and comes to believe the princess is in love with him.
The Fisherman and His Soul
A fisherman falls in love with a mermaid, but in order to marry her he must give up his soul. The soul, meanwhile, free from physical constraints, wanders the earth, discovering wisdom and riches, and then returns to convince the fisherman to join body and soul once again so that they may obtain everything desirable.
The Star Child
A poor woodcutter discovers a baby in the forest in the dead of winter, and takes him home to raise, believing him to have come down from the stars. The child grows up believing the same and must go through a painful ordeal to find his true identity.
I really hope you'll take the time to discover these great treasures of literature for yourself. I hope they touch you as much as they touched me.
Awesome suggestions! I'm really keen on reading/listening at least 2 of these over the weekend. I see you put really hard work on these and I admire your efforts.
If I you would indulge me in a bit of a constructive criticism, I'd suggest we add a resource of where these photos that you displayed came from .. Unless of course you made this yourself as it breaches some laws on copyright of somekind if we dont source the resources especially if its artwork and stuff we may need permission from the original owner but otherwise enjoyed this. As a matter of fact I've actually referred you to be whitelisted on Minnowbooster and its a platform for you to get more exposure and audience. So yeah that just means how good you are at making these articles.
Hi, thank you for your help, interest, and criticism. ;) I purposely chose old illustrations that are most likely now in the public domain--I didn't double check, but I'm pretty sure. Actually, just double checking now... Charles Robinson, who did these illustrations for The Happy Prince and Other Tales, died in 1937, which would put his work well into the public domain (generally the rule is 75 years after the creator's death). The House of Pomegranates illustrations that I used were created by Jessie M. King, who died in 1949, so technically they will not be in the public domain for 6 more years. :/
Thanks for pointing these out. I might give one of them a listen tonight, as a bed time story. Will let you know how I like it :>)