Publisher's Synopsis
A House of Pomegranates is a collection of fairy tales, written by Oscar Wilde, that was published in 1891 as a second collection for The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). Wilde once said that this collection was "intended neither for the British child nor the British public." The stories included in this collection are as follows: The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and his Soul, The Star-Child.The Young King"The Young King" tells the story of the illegitimate shepherd son of the recently dead king's daughter of an unnamed country. Being his only heir, the sixteen-year-old is brought to the palace to await his accession. There, he is in awe of the splendor of his new home and anxiously awaits his new crown, scepter, and robe which are soon to be delivered to him for his coronation in the morning.During the night, he has three nightmares, one for each element of his raiment, showing him where they came from and how they were obtained. The first dream shows a group of starving, haggard peasants - including children - working at looms to weave his robe where they receive little payment or food despite being worked so hard. The second dream shows a group of slaves on a ship where the youngest slave has his ears and nostrils filled with wax and is sent underwater to find pearls for the young King's scepter but dies after finding the best pearl. The third dream is the most elaborate and deals with the source of his new crown's rubies. In it, men excavate a dry riverbed in a tropical jungle, while overlooking them, the god Death tries to bargain with the goddess Avarice for a single grain of her corn. Each time Avarice refuses, Death summons Ague, Fever and Plague to kill one third of her servants, leaving the place devoid of life. Avarice flees in terror and Death leaves to attend to his duties caused by war and famine around the world.On the coronation day, the Young King refuses the costume brought to him, and makes a crown from a loop of dried briars, a scepter from his shepherd's staff, and wears his threadbare tunic in place of the royal robe. On his way to the cathedral, the nobles rebuke him for bringing shame to their class, the peasants for trying to deprive them of work, and the bishop for foolishly trying to take all the world's suffering upon himself. As he approaches the altar of the cathedral alone and prays, his staff-scepter blossoms with pearly white lilies, his dry briar-crown with ruby-red roses and his robe is coloured gold by the rays of sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows; the people fall on their knees in reverence, rioting noblemen bow and swear fealty to him and the awestruck bishop declares that a much higher being (God) has officially crowned the young king.