Short Questions (2 Marks)
Question 1 : Give a description of the statue of the Happy Prince.
Or, Describe the statue of the Happy Prince as described in the beginning of the story.
Answer : In the beginning of the story, the statue of the Happy Prince 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. The statue was mounted on a tall column from where it could oversee the city.
Question 2 : What filled the Happy Prince’s eyes with tears?
Answer : When he was alive, the Happy Prince never had any tears in his eyes because he lived in a place far from where he could see the misery of the people. After death, his courtiers set his statue on a high column from where he could see all the ugliness and the misery of his city. This made the Happy Prince’s eyes fill with tears.
Question 3 : What did the Prince request the swallow to do with one of the sapphires from his eyes?
Answer : The Prince requested the swallow to give the sapphire to the young man in the garret who had become too cold to write further and fainted due to hunger. By selling the sapphire to the jeweller, he would buy firewood to warm himself up and complete his play.
Question 4 : Why was the seamstress distressed?
Answer : The seamstress was distressed because she had to complete a dress, but her son was sick. She was very exhausted due to lack of food and she had no money to buy food. Apart from that, she had to complete a dress that belonged to queen.
Question 5 : How did the Prince help the seamstess?
Answer : The Happy Prince asked the swallow to take the ruby out of the handle of his sowrd and give it to the poor seamstress whose son was lying in bed with high fever. Thus, she could sell the jewel and boy food for her son. That way, she would be able to do the work.
Question 6 : What did the Happy Prince ask the swallow to do for helping the young man in the garret?
Answer : The Happy Prince asked the swallow to pluck out one of his eyes made of sapphire and take it to the young man in the garret so that he could buy firewood to warm himself and complete the play he had been writing. The swallow did so to help the needy man.
Question 7 : How did the Prince and the swallow enable the playwright to finish his work?
Answer : The playwright was feeling cold and hungry but he did not have any money to buy firewood or food. The prince asked the swallow to take one of his sapphires to the playwright, so that he could sell it, buy what he required and finish his work.
Question 8 : What did the swallow see as the third drop of water fell on his wings?
Or, What were the drops of the rain actually? Why did they fall?
Answer : When the third drop of water fell on his wings, the swallow looked upwards and saw that the eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, which were running down his golden cheeks. The drops of water were actually the tears of the Happy Prince. He was weeping on seeing the misery and suffering of the people.
Question 9 : How did the Happy Prince help the poor children in the city?
Answer : The Happy Prince distributed the gold leaves on his body to the poor people in the city and thus helped their children also. Everybody was happy on getting the leaves of gold which they could sell.
Question 10 : What happened when the little swallow was getting ready to sleep?
Answer : When the little swallow was getting ready to sleep, a large drop of water fell on him. Two more drops fell before he looked up and realised that they were actually tears from the eyes of the Prince. The prince was crying because he was sad over the poverty.
Question 11 : “The Swallow and the prince were alike in many ways .” Justify.
Answer : Both the swallow and the Prince were very kind and full of sympathy for the poor and suffering people. Both gave everything they had, the swallow his own life (in carrying out all the errands commanded by the Prince) and the Prince gave all his valuable parts to help the needy people. Thus, they were alike in many ways.
Question 12 : ‘Good deeds always make one happy’. Explain with reference to the lesson ‘Happy Prince’.
Answer : Good deeds give a sense of satisfaction and peace of mind. The Prince sacrificed everything, including his eyes (sapphires), the ruby in his sword and the gold leaves covering his body to make others happy. It made him very happy.
Question 13 : What is the moral of the story ‘The Happy Prince’?
Answer : The moral of the story, ‘The Happy Prince’ is that we must help the poor needy. The prince set an example by giving away his jewels and gold cover to the poor, while the swallow helped him in his task, also sacrificing his life in the process.
Question 14 : Why was the ‘Happy Prince’ not really happy?
Answer : When the ‘Happy Prince’ was alive, he did not see or know the condition of the poor and thus, was happy. After his death, he was mounted on a tall column so that he could see the ugliness and misery of the city. Therefore, he wept and was not really happy.
Long Questions (8 Marks)
Question 1 : Why does the Happy Prince want to part with all the gold and precious stones he has?
Answer : When the Happy Prince was alive he had never seen what poverty and sadness is. After his death, his statue was put high on a pedestal from where he could see the city life well. He would see the poor people and the ones who were deprived of the joy of life. He understood that they would be contended with the material prosperity. When the Happy Prince saw the pale faces of hungry children, realised the pain of homeless and shelterless people as well as the misery and suffering in his city after his death, he was greatly moved and wanted to help the needy. As he could not move being a statue, he tried to improve their living conditions by giving away all the gold and precious stones he had by asking the swallow to carry these to the people who needed them.
Question 2 : How did swallow prove to be the Happy Prince’s true friend?
Or, How did the little swallow carry out the wishes of the Happy Prince?
Answer : The little swallow was one of the most valuable soul found on the earth. He sacrificed his life for the sake of the virtues. He helped the happy prince in all the way he could. He was the messenger for the prince and contributed equally in the well-being of the poor and deprived people of the city. The happy prince, alone, would not be able to do the good deeds but for the little swallow.
The two were the combined good doer. The swallow proved to be the Happy Prince’s true friend by carrying out all his commands to help the poor and need in the city. So, instead of migrating to Egypt as he had planned earlier, he decided to stay with the Prince to help him by carrying out his wishes. He agrees to remove the jewels and gold from the statue of the Happy Prince on his commands. By sacrificing his life (due to the intense cold), the swallow proved to be the Happy Prince’s true friend.
Question 3 : Why did the Prince ask the swallow to stay with him for one night more?
Answer : The happy Prince was very happy actually when he was alive. He was provided with all the comfort and he knew nothing about poverty and sadness. But, after his death, his statue was erected on a high platform and he was able to see the whole city life very well. He saw the poor and destitute people all over the city and could not bear this sight. He wanted to help these people with the assistance (help) of the swallow. The Prince had a human heart and was grieved to see the suffering of the poor people the ugliness and misery in the city from the tall column on which his statue was mounted. Although his heart was now made of lead, he still wept. As he could not move, he requested the swallow to stay with him for one night more and help the needy people in the city by carrying to them all the valuable parts of his statue.
Question 4 : God called the leaden heart of the Happy Prince and the dead swallow as precious. Why?
Answer : A precious thing is that comes to the help of others, that seeks spiritual attainment and not the worldly things .Once that seeks the divine attainment in helping the needy and the poor. There is no meaning of one’s life if it can’t be of any help to the persons in need. There is no self interest involved in their actions but there is only contentment of doing. The leaden heart of the Prince could feel the sorrow and needs of others. So, the Prince helped the needy by giving away his jewellery and gold leaf to them. The swallow sacrificed his happiness by not flying to Egypt where his friends waited for him. For the sake of the Prince’s happiness, he stayed on and died in the cold weather, thus sacrificing his life.
Question 5 : What idea of the character of the Happy Prince do you get from the lesson ‘The Happy Prince’?
Or, Write the character sketch of the Happy Prince.
Answer : As the name suggests, he was really a happy prince till he was dead. After his death, he was placed on a tall column from where he could see the suffering of the people. His heart wept for them and he was moved at the sight of the people. He wanted to help them in all the way he could. Though, he was unable to move from there but he was just determined to do that and he did it with the help of the swallow. When he was alive, the Happy Prince never knew about sorrow and misery of the poor people in the city. After his death he could see the misery of the city from where e was mounted on a tall column.
He wept on seeing all this. He fulfilled his desire of helping the needy by asking the swallow to help him as he could not move. He was very kind and self-sacrificing , so that he gave away his statue’s jewels and his gold leaf covering to the poor and the needy.