RE: House of Mystery

[asteg@k12.ucs.umass.edu (Albert Steg (Winsor))]

In a previous article, vickie@pilot.njin.net (WretchAwry) says:

Regarding the Oscar Wilde reference in "December Will Be Magic..."
>
>Hey, where are all the experts??  My memory is not so good, and I don't
>remember the name of the story, but during the unedited MTV interview
>Kate talks about an Oscar Wilde story she loved as a child.  It has
>to do with a jewel-encrusted statue of a man and a little bird.  I 
>don't think it's a "Christmas" story, but it ends in the wintertime.

The story is called "The Happy Prince," but I doubt that anyone could have
recognized this as the reference in "December" without the help of an
interview comment from Kate herself.  The story is about a golden,
jewel-encrusted statue of a prince atop a column in a village square. 
Saddened by the poverty he can see from his vantage point, he asks a swallow
to take bits of his clothes and body to various poor prople until he is
stripped quite bare of valuables.  The swallow (!) means to fly off to Egypt
(!!) for the winter, but stays beyond migration time to help the Prince in
his gift-giving.   I won't mention how it ends, in case anyone wants to read
for herself.

Perfectly rreasonable, though, that Kate should wind up associating Wilde
with a wintry village setting and perhaps with Christmastime.  Connections
like this we don't make intentionally --thanks, Vickie, for sharing this
tidbit from the interview --REALLY hope we'll all be seeing this on someday!

Albert
-- 
"When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books,the
first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt
themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure.
                       -Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel"