In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late ‘Happy Prince’, who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isn’t allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.

在一个很多穷人受苦受难，磨难痛苦随处可见的小镇里，一只燕子落后于正飞往埃及过冬的鸟群，遇见了一尊雕塑，这是一位已故的“快乐王子”——这位王子生前从未体会过真正的悲伤，因为他住在不允许悲伤进入的宫殿。这位王子从自己高高的纪念雕像俯视着许多穷人在贫穷潦倒中痛苦挣扎、受苦受累的情境，他让这只燕子从他的剑柄上叼走红宝石、从他的眼睛里叼走蓝宝石并从叼走覆盖着他身体的黄金叶子，全部送给穷人。随着冬天的到来，这位快乐王子身上漂亮的东西全都被取走了，而当这只燕子因为王子无私的举动和严寒而死去的时候，王子那颗铅灌的心也碎了。随后，这座雕塑从柱子上被拉下来，被放到熔炉里熔化了，但雕塑那颗破碎的心却没有熔化。那颗心与死去的燕子被扔到垃圾堆里，后来被天使带往天堂。天使认为这颗心和燕子是这座城镇最宝贵的物事。天使的判断得到上帝肯定，从此他们就住进了上帝的黄金之城和天国花园。