《快乐王子》剧本 英文文档

(1)High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold,for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. (2)He was very much admired indeed.“He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes;“only not quite so useful,”he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical which he really was not. (3)“Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?”asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon.“The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.” (4)“I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue. (5)“He looks just like an angel,”said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores. (6) (7) “Ah! But we have, in our dreams,”answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very sever, for he did not approve of children dreaming. (8) One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big tallow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. (9)“Shall I love you?”said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round an round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer. (10)“It is a ridiculous attachment,”twittered the other Swallows;“she has no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away. (11) After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love.“She has no conversation,”he said, “and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the w ind.” And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys, “I admit that she is domestic,”he continued, “but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.” (12) “Will you come away with me?”he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home. (13) (14)All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city,“Where shall I put up?”he said:“I hope the town has made preparations.” (15)Then he saw the statue on the tall column. (16)“I will put up there,”he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince. (17) “I have a golden bedroom,”he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. (18)Then another drop fell. (19) “What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?” he said, “I must look for a good chimney-pot,” and he determined to fly away. (20) But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw—Ah! What did he see? (21)The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity. (22) (23) (24) “(25) (26) “What! Is he not solid gold?”said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud. (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry.“It is very cold here,”he said;“but I will stay with you for one night, and be you r messenger.” (32) (33)So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town. (34)He passed by the cathedral tower, where the wihte marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. “How wonderful the stars are,”he said to her,“and how wonderful is the power of love!” (35) (36) He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. the boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the rable veside the woman’s thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings.“How cool I feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting better;” and he sank into a delicious slumber. (37) Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done. “It is curious,” he remarked,“but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.” (38)“That is because you have done a good action,”said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy. (39)When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath.“What a remarkable phenomenon,”said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge.“A swallow in winter!”And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand. (40)“To-night I go to Egypt, “said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped and said to each other, “What a distinguished stranger!” so he enjoyed himself very much. (41) When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.“Have you any commissions for Egypt?” he cried;“I am just starting.” (42)(43) (44) (45) “I will wait with you one night longer,”said the Swallow,who really had a good heart. “Shall I take him another ruby?” (46)(47) “Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot do that”;and he began to weep. (48) (49) So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eyes, and flew away to the student’s garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room. The young man had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird’s wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered violets. (50) (51) The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes.“Heave a-boy!” they shouted as each chest came up. “I am going to Egypt!”cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. (52)(53)(54) (55) (56)(57)(58) So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand.“What a lovely bit of glass,” cried the litt le girl; and she ran home, laughing. (59) Then the Swallow came back to the Prince.“You are blind now,”he said, “so I will stay with you always.” (60)“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.” (61) “I will stay with you always,” said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince’s feet. (62) All the next day he sat on the Prince’s shoulder, and told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and catch gold-fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and knows everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and worships a large crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the butterflies. (63) (64) So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one another’s arms to try and keep themselves warm.“How hungry we are!”they said. “You must not lie here,” s houted the Watchman,and they wandered out into the rain. (65) Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen. (66)(67) Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the street.“We have bread now!”they cried. (68) Then the snow came and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made of silver, they were so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of the houses, everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice. (69) The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the baker’s door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings. (70) But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once more. “Good-bye, dear Prince!” he murmured, “will you let me kiss your hand?” (71) (72)(73) And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet. (74) At the moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden hear had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost. (75) Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column he looked up at the statue: “Dear me! How shabby the Happy Prince looks!”he said. (76)“How shabby indeed!”cried the Town Councillors, who always agreed with the Mayor; and they went up to look at it. (77)(78) (79) “And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!” continued the Mayor. “We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die here.” And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion. (80) So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. “As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful,” said the Art Professor at the University. (81) Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. “We must have another statue, of course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of myself.” (82)“Of myself,”said each of the Town Councilors, and they quarreled. When I last heard of them they were quarrelling still. (83)“What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.”So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was also lying. (84)“Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the angels brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird. (85)“You have rightly chosen,”said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little