All through the day the swallow flies, and at night he arrives in the big city. ‘Where can I stay here? Where can I find a bed to sleep in?’ he thinks, and then he sees the statue of the Happy Prince on its tall column.

‘I can stay here,’ he says, ‘From here I can look down at the town and up at the open sky, too.’

So he sits between the feet of the Happy Prince, and he looks about him. ‘Tonight I have a beautiful gold room to stay in,’ he says quietly, and then he begins to go to sleep.

Suddenly a big drop of water falls on him. Soon after that, a second drop hits him on the head, too.

‘That’s strange. It’s raining! Reeds like the rain but not swallows.’ he says.