ArcaMax Publishing > Books > Short Stories > The Happy Prince and Other Tales > Section 5
The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Oscar Wilde

"The next day he was nailing up some honeysuckle against the porch,
when he heard the Miller's voice calling to him from the road.  So
he jumped off the ladder, and ran down the garden, and looked over
the wall.

"There was the Miller with a large sack of flour on his back.

"'Dear little Hans,' said the Miller, 'would you mind carrying this
sack of flour for me to market?'

"'Oh, I am so sorry,' said Hans, 'but I am really very busy to-day.
I have got all my creepers to nail up, and all my flowers to water,
and all my grass to roll.'

"'Well, really,' said the Miller, 'I think that, considering that I
am going to give you my wheelbarrow, it is rather unfriendly of you
to refuse.'

"'Oh, don't say that,' cried little Hans, 'I wouldn't be unfriendly
for the whole world'; and he ran in for his cap, and trudged off
with the big sack on his shoulders.

"It was a very hot day, and the road was terribly dusty, and before
Hans had reached the sixth milestone he was so tired that he had to
sit down and rest.  However, he went on bravely, and as last he
reached the market.  After he had waited there some time, he sold
the sack of flour for a very good price, and then he returned home
at once, for he was afraid that if he stopped too late he might
meet some robbers on the way.

"'It has certainly been a hard day,' said little Hans to himself as
he was going to bed, 'but I am glad I did not refuse the Miller,
for he is my best friend, and, besides, he is going to give me his
wheelbarrow.'

"Early the next morning the Miller came down to get the money for
his sack of flour, but little Hans was so tired that he was still
in bed.

"'Upon my word,' said the Miller, 'you are very lazy.  Really,
considering that I am going to give you my wheelbarrow, I think you
might work harder.  Idleness is a great sin, and I certainly don't
like any of my friends to be idle or sluggish.  You must not mind
my speaking quite plainly to you.  Of course I should not dream of
doing so if I were not your friend.  But what is the good of
friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means?  Anybody can
say charming things and try to please and to flatter, but a true
friend always says unpleasant things, and does not mind giving
pain.  Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he
knows that then he is doing good.'

"'I am very sorry,' said little Hans, rubbing his eyes and pulling
off his night-cap, 'but I was so tired that I thought I would lie
in bed for a little time, and listen to the birds singing.  Do you
know that I always work better after hearing the birds sing?'

"'Well, I am glad of that,' said the Miller, clapping little Hans
on the back, 'for I want you to come up to the mill as soon as you
are dressed, and mend my barn-roof for me.'

"Poor little Hans was very anxious to go and work in his garden,
for his flowers had not been watered for two days, but he did not
like to refuse the Miller, as he was such a good friend to him.

"'Do you think it would be unfriendly of me if I said I was busy?'
he inquired in a shy and timid voice.

"'Well, really,' answered the Miller, 'I do not think it is much to
ask of you, considering that I am going to give you my wheelbarrow;
but of course if you refuse I will go and do it myself.'

"'Oh! on no account,' cried little Hans and he jumped out of bed,
and dressed himself, and went up to the barn.

"He worked there all day long, till sunset, and at sunset the
Miller came to see how he was getting on.

"'Have you mended the hole in the roof yet, little Hans?' cried the
Miller in a cheery voice.

"'It is quite mended,' answered little Hans, coming down the
ladder.

"'Ah'! said the Miller, 'there is no work so delightful as the work
one does for others.'

"'It is certainly a great privilege to hear you talk,' answered
little Hans, sitting down, and wiping his forehead, 'a very great
privilege.  But I am afraid I shall never have such beautiful ideas
as you have.'

"'Oh! they will come to you,' said the Miller, 'but you must take
more pains.  At present you have only the practice of friendship;
some day you will have the theory also.'

"'Do you really think I shall?' asked little Hans.

"'I have no doubt of it,' answered the Miller, 'but now that you
have mended the roof, you had better go home and rest, for I want
you to drive my sheep to the mountain to-morrow.'

"Poor little Hans was afraid to say anything to this, and early the
next morning the Miller brought his sheep round to the cottage, and
Hans started off with them to the mountain.  It took him the whole
day to get there and back; and when he returned he was so tired
that he went off to sleep in his chair, and did not wake up till it
was broad daylight.

"'What a delightful time I shall have in my garden,' he said, and
he went to work at once.

"But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers at all,
for his friend the Miller was always coming round and sending him
off on long errands, or getting him to help at the mill.  Little
Hans was very much distressed at times, as he was afraid his
flowers would think he had forgotten them, but he consoled himself
by the reflection that the Miller was his best friend.  'Besides,'
he used to say, 'he is going to give me his wheelbarrow, and that
is an act of pure generosity.'

"So little Hans worked away for the Miller, and the Miller said all
kinds of beautiful things about friendship, which Hans took down in
a note-book, and used to read over at night, for he was a very good
scholar.

"Now it happened that one evening little Hans was sitting by his
fireside when a loud rap came at the door.  It was a very wild
night, and the wind was blowing and roaring round the house so
terribly that at first he thought it was merely the storm.  But a
second rap came, and then a third, louder than any of the others.

"'It is some poor traveller,' said little Hans to himself, and he
ran to the door.

"There stood the Miller with a lantern in one hand and a big stick
in the other.

"'Dear little Hans,' cried the Miller, 'I am in great trouble.  My
little boy has fallen off a ladder and hurt himself, and I am going
for the Doctor.  But he lives so far away, and it is such a bad
night, that it has just occurred to me that it would be much better
if you went instead of me.  You know I am going to give you my
wheelbarrow, and so, it is only fair that you should do something
for me in return.'

"'Certainly,' cried little Hans, 'I take it quite as a compliment
your coming to me, and I will start off at once.  But you must lend
me your lantern, as the night is so dark that I am afraid I might
fall into the ditch.'

"'I am very sorry,' answered the Miller, 'but it is my new lantern,
and it would be a great loss to me if anything happened to it.'

"'Well, never mind, I will do without it,' cried little Hans, and
he took down his great fur coat, and his warm scarlet cap, and tied
a muffler round his throat, and started off.

"What a dreadful storm it was!  The night was so black that little
Hans could hardly see, and the wind was so strong that he could
scarcely stand.  However, he was very courageous, and after he had
been walking about three hours, he arrived at the Doctor's house,
and knocked at the door.

"'Who is there?' cried the Doctor, putting his head out of his
bedroom window.

"'Little Hans, Doctor.'

"'What do you want, little Hans?'

"'The Miller's son has fallen from a ladder, and has hurt himself,
and the Miller wants you to come at once.'

"'All right!' said the Doctor; and he ordered his horse, and his
big boots, and his lantern, and came downstairs, and rode off in
the direction of the Miller's house, little Hans trudging behind
him.

"But the storm grew worse and worse, and the rain fell in torrents,
and little Hans could not see where he was going, or keep up with
the horse.  At last he lost his way, and wandered off on the moor,
which was a very dangerous place, as it was full of deep holes, and
there poor little Hans was drowned.  His body was found the next
day by some goatherds, floating in a great pool of water, and was
brought back by them to the cottage.

"Everybody went to little Hans' funeral, as he was so popular, and
the Miller was the chief mourner.

"'As I was his best friend,' said the Miller, 'it is only fair that
I should have the best place'; so he walked at the head of the
procession in a long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped
his eyes with a big pocket-handkerchief.

"'Little Hans is certainly a great loss to every one,' said the
Blacksmith, when the funeral was over, and they were all seated
comfortably in the inn, drinking spiced wine and eating sweet
cakes.

"'A great loss to me at any rate,' answered the Miller; 'why, I had
as good as given him my wheelbarrow, and now I really don't know
what to do with it.  It is very much in my way at home, and it is
in such bad repair that I could not get anything for it if I sold
it.  I will certainly take care not to give away anything again.
One always suffers for being generous.'"

"Well?" said the Water-rat, after a long pause.

"Well, that is the end," said the Linnet.

"But what became of the Miller?" asked the Water-rat.

"Oh!  I really don't know," replied the Linnet; "and I am sure that
I don't care."

"It is quite evident then that you have no sympathy in your
nature," said the Water-rat.

"I am afraid you don't quite see the moral of the story," remarked
the Linnet.

"The what?" screamed the Water-rat.

"The moral."

"Do you mean to say that the story has a moral?"

"Certainly," said the Linnet.

"Well, really," said the Water-rat, in a very angry manner, "I
think you should have told me that before you began.  If you had
done so, I certainly would not have listened to you; in fact, I
should have said 'Pooh,' like the critic.  However, I can say it
now"; so he shouted out "Pooh" at the top of his voice, gave a
whisk with his tail, and went back into his hole.

"And how do you like the Water-rat?" asked the Duck, who came
paddling up some minutes afterwards.  "He has a great many good
points, but for my own part I have a mother's feelings, and I can
never look at a confirmed bachelor without the tears coming into my
eyes."

"I am rather afraid that I have annoyed him," answered the Linnet.
"The fact is, that I told him a story with a moral."

"Ah! that is always a very dangerous thing to do," said the Duck.

And I quite agree with her.
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