The Happy Prince and Other Tales book summary
High above a city stands the gilded statue of the Happy Prince, and when a little Swallow on his way to Egypt shelters at his feet, the Prince asks him to carry his jewels and gold to the poor. From his column the Prince sees the city’s misery, and night after night the Swallow delays his flight south to help. Four more tales follow: The Nightingale and the Rose, about a nightingale ready to pay a terrible price to give a lovesick Student a red rose; The Selfish Giant, whose walled garden stays locked in winter; The Devoted Friend, about honest little Hans and the rich Miller who calls himself his friend; and The Remarkable Rocket, about a boastful firework at a royal wedding. Oscar Wilde’s first book of fairy tales (1888) brings wit, irony and tenderness to the fairy-tale form, setting love and kindness against vanity and selfishness.
The Happy Prince and Other Tales at a glance
- Level
- B2
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 92
- Words
- about 16,266
- Unique words
- 2,201
- Estimated reading time
- 65–108 minutes
- Formats
- EPUB and PDF
Reading time is an estimate at 150–250 words per minute.
Why this book is useful for B2 English learners
The Happy Prince and Other Tales is useful for B2 English learners because it gives you longer passages, richer description, flexible word meanings, idioms, and more natural literary phrasing. As a classic text, it lets you meet vocabulary inside a real reading flow instead of memorizing isolated words.
Vocabulary difficulty
B2 vocabulary can include figurative language, older expressions, topic-specific words, and phrases whose meaning depends on context. Across about 92 pages, Okuzeka helps you slow down only on the words or phrases that block understanding, so the difficulty becomes easier to manage without turning every paragraph into a translation exercise. This makes it a practical B2 vocabulary reading choice.
Recommended reading level
Best for readers who understand normal English texts but still need help with nuance, idioms, and denser sentences. If you are looking for B2 English books, this page gives you the book format, page count, category, and reading tools before you add it to your library.
Most common words in The Happy Prince and Other Tales
The Happy Prince and Other Tales contains about 16,266 words, 2,201 of them unique. These content words appear most often in the text:
- cried×63
- hans×60
- swallow×54
- prince×49
- miller×48
- rose×48
- garden×45
- great×45
- quite×42
- rocket×41
- answered×39
- red×36
How to read The Happy Prince and Other Tales with Okuzeka
Add The Happy Prince and Other Tales to your Okuzeka library, open it in the reader, and tap difficult words while you read. Okuzeka shows meanings in the sentence you are reading, lets you save useful vocabulary as flashcards, and keeps the book available across web, iOS, and Android.
- Add the book to your library.
- Read normally and tap only the words that stop you.
- Save useful words as flashcards for later review.
Similar B2 books
More by Oscar Wilde
Next step: C1 English books
The Happy Prince and Other Tales FAQ
Is The Happy Prince and Other Tales good for B2 English reading practice?
The Happy Prince and Other Tales can be used for B2 English reading because you can read the book in Okuzeka, check difficult words in context, and save vocabulary while staying inside the text.
Can I read The Happy Prince and Other Tales as an EPUB in Okuzeka?
Yes. The Happy Prince and Other Tales is available as an EPUB book in Okuzeka.
Which words appear most often in The Happy Prince and Other Tales?
The most frequent content words in the text of The Happy Prince and Other Tales are: cried, hans, swallow, prince, miller, rose, garden, great, quite, rocket. The book contains about 16,266 words in total, 2,201 of them unique. While reading in Okuzeka you can tap any of these words to see the meaning they have in that sentence.
How long does it take to read The Happy Prince and Other Tales?
The Happy Prince and Other Tales has about 16,266 words. At a reading speed of 150 to 250 words per minute, that is roughly 65–108 minutes of reading. This is an estimate: your own pace, and stopping to look up words, will change it.
Which formats is The Happy Prince and Other Tales available in?
The Happy Prince and Other Tales is available as EPUB and PDF. Both files can be downloaded from this page without an account. Reading it in the Okuzeka web reader, with tap-to-translate and flashcards, needs a free account.
How should I read The Happy Prince and Other Tales with Okuzeka?
Read normally first, tap only the words or phrases that stop you, and save the useful ones as flashcards. This keeps EPUB and PDF reading close to real book reading instead of constant dictionary switching.
