CBSE Class 9 English Moments Chapter 5: The Happy Prince NCERT Solutions

The courtiers referred to the prince as 'the Happy Prince' because, during his lifetime, he lived in a palace surrounded by luxury and joy, completely unaware of any sorrow or suffering. He had never known sadness and was always depicted as cheerful.

However, after his death, when he was made into a statue overlooking the city, he was not truly happy. From his elevated position, he could see the stark reality of the misery, poverty, and ugliness that existed in his city. He saw people suffering from cold, hunger, and illness, which filled him with sadness and compassion.

Therefore, despite his name, the statue of the Happy Prince was actually deeply unhappy as he witnessed the suffering of his people.

The Happy Prince sends a ruby for the seamstress because he observes her extreme poverty and distress. Her young son is ill with a fever, and she has no money to buy him food or medicine, nor even to keep her warm. Seeing her suffering, the prince wishes to help her by providing a valuable jewel she can sell.

After the prince persuades the swallow to take the ruby, the swallow flies to the seamstress's house. He finds her asleep from exhaustion. The swallow carefully places the ruby on the table where she works. He then flies around the bed where her sick son lies, gently fanning the boy's forehead with his wings. This action provides some relief to the child, helping him to fall into a deeper sleep.

The Happy Prince sends his two sapphire eyes to help two different individuals in need:

1. The Young Writer: The prince notices a young writer struggling to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre. The writer is extremely poor, suffering from the cold due to a lack of firewood and faint from hunger. The prince sends one sapphire so the writer can sell it to a jeweller, buy firewood to warm his room, and purchase food to regain his strength, enabling him to complete his creative work.

2. The Little Match Girl: The prince then sees a little match girl standing in the square below. She has accidentally dropped all her matches into the gutter, ruining them. She fears her father's anger and punishment if she returns home without any money. The prince, understanding her desperate situation, sends his other sapphire to her. When the swallow places the jewel in her hand, she runs home, happy and relieved, believing she can now avoid her father's beating.

As the swallow flies over the city, it witnesses a stark contrast between the lives of the rich and the poor. It observes wealthy men enjoying themselves inside beautiful houses, oblivious to the suffering of those less fortunate who live in dark alleys. The swallow sees the extreme poverty and despair of the city's inhabitants, noting how even the poor are denied basic comfort, with police patrolling the streets at night, preventing them from finding rest.

The swallow decided not to leave the prince and go to Egypt primarily because he had become deeply attached to the Happy Prince and was moved by his profound kindness and selflessness. The prince had already given away his ruby and both his sapphire eyes to help the needy. This act of sacrifice, and the prince's subsequent blindness, touched the swallow deeply.

Furthermore, the swallow felt a sense of loyalty and companionship towards the blind statue. He realized that the prince was now completely alone and vulnerable. Choosing to stay, the swallow sacrificed his own plans to migrate to Egypt with his friends, demonstrating his own capacity for empathy and devotion.

The story mentions two things as truly precious: the Happy Prince's leaden heart and the dead swallow.

These items are considered precious not because of their material value, but because of the immense love, sacrifice, and selflessness they represent. The Happy Prince, even as a statue, could not bear to see the suffering in his city. He gave away all his valuable jewels—a ruby and two sapphires—and even his golden covering to help the poor, the sick, and the cold. His willingness to sacrifice everything for others demonstrates his profound compassion.

The swallow, in turn, showed incredible loyalty and kindness. He sacrificed his migration to Egypt to stay with the blind prince and act as his messenger, delivering the jewels to those in need. He endured harsh weather and ultimately died of cold at the prince's feet. The prince's heart broke in two upon seeing the dead swallow. Their shared capacity for love and sacrifice, even in death, makes their leaden heart and lifeless body the most precious elements in the story, as recognized even by God.