Although I have heard proverbs and expressions from my mom, I don't remember my mother telling me any stories in my childhood. But, I remember my mother once telling me just one story. At those days, we would prepare to receive First Communion when we were getting promoted from the second grade to the third. The Nuns were the ones who prepared the kids for this. Most of the vacation used to be spent at mother's home. Therefore my First Communion was in that Church. After my First Communion we returned to our house. Thereafter for about a month, everyday my mother would bring me to the church. We walked a mile each up and down to the church. Once the habit of going to church for Mass was formed in me, she stayed at home, preparing breakfast and other things before school. It was during that one month of walking up and down the church, that my mother told me this story.
The summary of it, which I have not forgotten to this day, is like this: Once upon a time there was a prince. Somehow he died very young. They made a beautiful statue of him and placed it on a high pedestal. (Two lines are enough: you already know the story, right?) They used jewels to make his eyes pendant of the necklace. His body, which was made of lead, was covered with gold leafs. However, the heart of the statue was made of steel.
Winter was very near. One night, a swallow happened to rest at the foot of the statue. The swallow noticed that the statue was crying. She asked for the reason. The statue spoke and said that they called me the happy prince. Now that I am standing here on top of this column, I can see the poverty and suffering of my people. And the prince was crying because he could not do anything about it. The prince asked the swallow if she could help him. Winter was approaching. I have to go. It would be mistake if I did not get to a warmer country. However, the swallow agreed to stay for a day to help him. As the prince had asked, she took the ruby out of his necklace and brought it to a poor woman far away. The prince then asked for just one more favor. The swallow obliged again. She took out his eye made of sapphire and took it to a poor person. The next day, the other sapphire eye. Then she delivered the gold leaves that covered his body to the poor one by one. By now, winter had arrived with its bitter cold. It was too late for her to travel to a warmer land. She, who had a thick friend of the prince, kissed him and sat at his feet. She froze to death in the cold. At that instance, the heart of the statue got cracked.
Next morning, in the gentle sunlight, the mayor of the city was walking the street with his council and gazed at the column. He thought that the statue was a blot to the city. He ordered it to be removed and something beautiful to be made of it. The eorkmen pulled the statue down. When the foundry men melted it down, they could do nothing about the iron heart that was cracked. They threw it away.
God sent two of his beloved angels to earth with a special mission. 'Bring me from the earth two most precious things you can find'. The gold and jems on earth did not seem very interesting to them. In the end, the angels. brought back two curious and precious things. One was a cracked iron heart. The other a dead bird frozen to death in the cold.
That's the only story my mom told me in my childhood! I realized that it was Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince, only a few years ago! It is true that my mother's version in details was slightly different from Wilde's story. However, the plot of it that I heard in my childhood was etched in my mind, until now.
It has only been two years since I learned that this story has been included as an English reader in the 6th grade in Kerala State school syllabus. I was indeed happy to know that.
However, every state has its own agenda. Also true of Kerala. Those who included Oscar Wilde's world-famous short story in the textbook did one thing. They censored out the last part of the story. They ended the story where 'They pulled the Happy Prince down'.
If they included a few more lines, probably they were afraid that any of the children would have any good purpose in life!!
The Kerala men -like the foundry-men in the story who threw away the heart- the heart of the story and extinguished its essence. In any case, the soul of Oscar Wilde will be the happiest to know that his decapitated story has been completely removed this year from the curriculum!
(In the original story, the mayor orders a statue of himself be erected. Then each council member quarrelling, "no, it should be mine!" Perhaps they wanted that the story doesn't point to our leaders!)
