高い柱の上に、町を見下ろすようにして「幸福の王子」と呼ばれる一体の像が立っていた。全身は薄い純金の葉に覆われ、両の目には大粒の青いサファイアが、剣の柄には真っ赤なルビーが、惜しみなくはめ込まれていた。
High on a tall column above the town, looking down upon its streets, stood a statue known as the Happy Prince. From head to foot he was covered with thin leaves of pure gold; in each of his eyes was set a great blue sapphire, and in the hilt of his sword shone a single ruby of deep crimson.
町の人々は誰もがその像を仰ぎ見て、「あの王子のように幸せそうに見えればいいものを」と口々に語り合った。だが、その像が抱えている真実の悲しみについては、誰一人として気づく者はなかったのである。
Every person in the town looked up at the statue with admiration. "Would that we all looked as happy as that prince," they said to one another. But of the true sorrow that the statue carried within himself, there was not a soul who guessed.
生前の王子は、悲しみなど知るよしもないようなふうに、宮殿の中で毎日を笑って暮らしていた。何不自由のない暮らしの中で、城壁の外にどんな世界が広がっているかなど、考えてみたこともなかった。
In the years of his life, the prince had passed his days inside the palace laughing, in a manner that suggested he could not even have guessed sorrow existed. In a life without a single want, he had never once paused to wonder what kind of world lay beyond his castle walls.
しかし、死後にこの高い場所へ立てられてからは、町の隅々で人々が抱える貧しさや悲しみが、嫌でも目に入るようになってしまった。それ以来、王子の金で覆われた頬には、夜になるとひとりでに涙がこぼれ落ちるようになったのである。
But after his death, once he had been set upon this high place, the poverty and grief of every corner of his town entered his sight whether he wished it or no. From then on, when night came, tears began to roll of their own accord down the gilded cheeks of the prince.
ある秋の夜のことであった。エジプトへ渡るのが遅れた一羽の小さなツバメが、王子の足元の柱の上で羽根を休めることにした。「ここなら金で屋根が葺かれた寝床に泊まれそうだ」と、一人ご満悦であった。
It happened on an autumn night. A small swallow that had fallen behind on his journey to Egypt decided to rest his wings on the column at the feet of the prince. "I shall have a bedroom roofed in gold for the night," he thought to himself, well pleased.
ところが、ツバメがちょうど眠りに就こうかという折に、頭上から大きな冷たい水滴が落ちてきた。「雨が降ってもいないのにおかしいな」と上を見上げると、それは王子の流す涙にほかならなかった。
But just as he was preparing to drop off to sleep, a large, cold drop of water fell upon him from above. "Strange — there is no rain," he said, looking up. Yet it was nothing other than a tear shed by the prince himself.
「あちらの貧しい家では、母親が病気の子どもの看病に疲れ果てている。私の剣の柄のルビーを引き抜いて、あの母親に届けてやってくれないか」と、王子は震える声で頼んだ。
"In that poor house yonder, a mother is worn out from nursing her sick child. Pluck the ruby from the hilt of my sword and carry it to her," the prince begged him in a voice that trembled.
ツバメは初め断ろうとしたものの、王子のあまりにも切実な眼差しに負け、結局そのルビーを母親のもとへ運んだ。長旅に疲れていたにもかかわらず、貧しい母子の枕元にそっとルビーを置いてくると、ツバメは温かい気持ちで王子のもとへ帰り着いた。
At first the swallow meant to refuse, but the depth of yearning in the prince's eyes won him over, and in the end he carried the ruby to the mother. Tired though he was from his long journey, he laid the jewel gently by her pillow and returned to the prince warmed in heart.