"The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he is
golden no longer," said the Mayor in fact, "he is litttle beter
than a beggar!"

"Little better than a beggar," said the Town Councillors.

"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.

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.

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."

"Of myself," said each of the Town Councillors, and they
quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were quarrelling still.

"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.

"Bring me the two most precious things in the city," said God to
one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and