OSCAR WILDE AND THE SIGN OF THE SWALLOWS

 When I was 7 I had something of an obsession with Oscar Wilde's fairytale The Happy Prince. Even at that young age, I wanted to write legends a la Wilde, and I invited knowing laughter from those who were much taller than me when I announced, "I want to be like Oscar Wilde!"

The Happy Prince concerns the friendship between a statue of a prince that is perched high above the city, he is covered in gold leaf, has two sapphires for eyes and a spectacular ruby on the hilt of his sword. The prince befriends a lonely swallow who takes shelter under him. 

The swallow has been left behind by a migrating flock, and is love sick; he fell for a reed who rejected him. The prince is heartbroken, too, he is bedecked in jewels but sees so much poverty and illness that he weeps. 

The prince persuades the swallow to pick out his jewels and tear off the gold with his wide beak, and deliver them to the needy across the city which the swallow does with delight. One act of altruism touches my heart in particular; the swallow goes to a boy who sweats in bed with fever, fans him with his wings and brings him sudden relief, while also giving his mother a strip of gold that can be sold and used to buy oranges for her son. 

Winter comes and the swallow perishes of hypothermia, while the statue is grey, shabby and looks vandalized, and so is torn down. The dead bird is thrown on the dust heap. But all is gained in eternal life; the swallow and the prince are taken by an angel to Heaven. The ending is a signpost to paradise that punctuates so much of Wilde's work. 

I have (and yes, I know this will invite people to remind me of Wilde's sins) prayed to Wilde on occasion, and can't quite couch it as coincidence that I've had the sign of swallows. Once I got a scarf with swallows for my birthday.

Most astoundingly for me personally, was that some time ago, so much that it feels like another lifetime, I had a "Bosie" in my life, a chap like Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, and because Wilde had suffered as I was, I asked his help. 

At the time, I was being advised to go to hospital for some surgery, and wanted a second opinion, so I sought out a doctor who was known to have high integrity. When I went for an examination, I saw the doctor had swallows painted on the walls of his consulting room. I remember thinking, you've got to be kidding me. 

Then one Saturday, after confession, when I felt myself despairing of every overcoming personal vice, I prayed to Oscar Wilde, and mere minutes later was invited by J & J to go on a trip to San Juan Capistrano, aka "home of the cliff swallows", who return on March 19, feast of St Joseph every year. 

Today, October 16, is Oscar Wilde's birthday and while I doubt there will be a movement for his canonization launched anytime soon, I hold that swallows are the sign of his intercession, pray to him and see the sign of the passerine with metallic blue back and tawny orange throat and forehead. 

                                                                                                  

The illustration of The Happy Prince was executed by Walter Crane, and the second one is from The Illustrated Police News and is in the public domain.