Listen to all five stories in Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Noel Badrian reads this complete English collection in a solo LibriVox recording. The player follows the original order: “The Happy Prince,” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” “The Selfish Giant,” “The Devoted Friend,” and “The Remarkable Rocket.”
About the collection
Oscar Wilde published these five literary fairy tales in 1888. They look simple on the surface, but they ask serious questions about generosity, beauty, loyalty, vanity, and the treatment of vulnerable people. Wilde gives statues, birds, flowers, giants, and fireworks human voices. Their choices expose the distance between kind words and useful action.
In “The Happy Prince,” a gilded statue sees poverty that he could not understand during his sheltered life. A migrating Swallow helps him give away the jewels and gold that cover his body. “The Nightingale and the Rose” follows a bird whose sacrifice is ignored by people who value fashion and convenience. “The Selfish Giant” turns a locked garden into an image of isolation, while the return of children brings spring and change.
The final two stories sharpen Wilde’s satire. “The Devoted Friend” shows how the language of friendship can hide exploitation. “The Remarkable Rocket” presents a firework that treats every setback as proof of its own importance. Together, the stories can be enjoyed by younger listeners, but their irony and moral ambiguity also reward adult attention.
About Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer, dramatist, poet, and essayist known for precise wit and carefully shaped dialogue. He was born in Dublin in 1854 and died in Paris in 1900. His best-known works include The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. These tales show another side of his writing: emotional, playful, and openly concerned with cruelty and compassion.
Listening notes
The five-track player lets you move between complete stories rather than arbitrary chapter fragments. The total running time is 1 hour, 51 minutes, and 59 seconds. The recording is in English and is suitable for a short listening session or a story-by-story reading group. For language practice, listen once for the plot, then replay a scene and note how Wilde contrasts sincere action with elegant speech.
Source and rights
Text by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1888. Audio read by Noel Badrian for LibriVox and hosted by Internet Archive. LibriVox and the Archive item mark the recording as public domain. The original English work is also in the public domain in Sweden and the European Union because Wilde died in 1900. Audio and cover remain hosted by Internet Archive; BookAud provides streaming links and source credit.
Related audiobooks
- The Picture of Dorian Gray — Wilde’s novel about beauty, influence, and moral responsibility.
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — a classic that uses fantasy, language, and absurd rules.
- A Christmas Carol — Dickens’s compact story of selfishness, memory, and change.
Recording source: Internet Archive.
Pingback: Listen – English Verb with US Pronunciation | BookAud