The+Happy+Prince+and+other+stories

I have just finished reading this book and I must recognise I didn't remember it was written by Oscar Wilde, maybe because I usually think of Wilde as a playwright. It is a collection of five fairy stories he wrote for his own children: TheHappy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket. I chose this book to read because I remember the first story from my school-time. It's really interesting reading books again after about thirty years, because in spite of the fact that you remember them quite well you always find something new, perhaps because you have more information or just because now you have a different point of view. That's what has happened to me with The Prince. Not exactly about the story itself but about the main character, the Prince. I remember him as a selfish rich boy who didn't care about anyone else. He lived happy-go-lucky in his castle and didn't worry about what happened outside its walls. But after he dies and they made him a statue he starts to look around and sees all the sadness and the worries of his people. He took his first opportunity to try to mend them by involving a passing-by swallow who was flying south. Although winter has come already the swallow helps the prince to solve poor people's problems. That was what I remembered from the first time I read it. But now I think the Prince wasn't so selfish but unaware of what happened outside. I liked it the first time I read it, but I have liked it much more this time. About the other tales I must say I did know almost all of them but there are a couple of them I don't really like: The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket. I can get their morals, but I didn't enjoy reading them. The Selfish Giant? Well I liked it when I was a child and I still like it a lot, though maybe it is a quite simple story. And about The Nightingale and the Rose I didn't remember this one. It is a very sad story, about heartbreaking (both literally and figuratively). I like it, but I'm not very sure I understand it completely. To summarise: This is a very easy reading, with a vocabulary which is quite easy to understand. It won't take you long to finish it and, as they are five independent stories, you can read them separately, whenever you have a few minutes of spare time.

María José Tato