Wilde, Oscar. Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde. New York: Signet Classic, 1990.This is actually two books that have been bound together: The Happy Prince and The House of Pomegranates. Both books are collections of short fairy tales that Wilde wrote early in his career.
It's an unfortunate reality of our modern American upbringings that we tend to think fairy tales are bright insipid stories where the guy gets the girl, the girl gets the crown, the bad guys are frustrated but none the worse for wear. I blame Disney.
Fairy tales were not originally meant for child audiences. Until the 19th century, fairy tales appeared in literature aimed at adults. Fairy tales use a simple structure to deal with life issues in miniature. Highly stylized moralistic lessoning, in other words. The fairy tale, before Disney got his mitts on them, was often harsh, often ended badly, and was almost always gruesome. Cinderella, for example, follows the same general outline as the Disney classic. However the stepsisters mutilate their feet (one cuts off a slice of her heel and one cuts off her big toe) in the process of trying to fit their feet in the glass slipper and in the end have their eyes pecked out by sparrows. Not quite the cheery ending displayed by Disney and a much more intense lesson about the distructive effects of envy.
Anyway, Wilde's fairy tales aren't so gruesome, but they are highly moralistic. My favorites are: 'The Remarkable Rocket' which takes on pride, 'The Devoted Friend' which takes on the dangers of being a doormat, and 'The Birthday of the Infanta' which is...complicated. I grew up with a collection that had 'The Selfish Giant' in it and also think highly of it. I love fairy tales, especially when they make me cry.
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