Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright born in Dublin Ireland in 1854 and died in Paris, France in 1900 at the age of 46.

He wrote The Happy Prince in 1888.

What is wrong with reading a children’s story if you are an adult? They are simple and refreshing while being entertaining and often have a message that we, as adults, may have forgotten. Some of them are classics and there is a reason why generations of children grow up having read them. They are a part of our culture; an important part. And children’s stories take us back to when we were children. It’s good for the soul to make that visit back in time once in a while.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde is one of those classics. It is about a swallow and a statue. It is about friendship and love.

I think that had Saki not had such cruel and unforgiving guardians as the 2 aunts who raised him, we would not have the gems that he wrote later on in life. Saki is the pen name of Hector Hugh Monroe born in Burma in 1871. While visiting England in 1872, his mother Mary was charged by a cow. She was so shocked that she miscarried and died days later. Because of this, his father shipped their 3 children back to England. He was only 2 years old when he was sent to live with his grandmother and two unmarried aunts on his father’s side.

He published The Rise of the Russian Empire in 1900; his only serious historical work. He is regarded as a master of the short story and was influenced by Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll. He was killed by a German sniper in November of 1916 during the Great War. Apparently, his last words were: “Put that bloody cigarette out!”

The Interlopers is a very dark story about retribution. Two men quarrel over land and accuse the other of interloping. In the end, who are the real interlopers? And who will pay?

Désirée's Baby is a tragedy written in 1893. It takes place in rural Louisiana before the abolition of slavery. It is about inter-racial marriage, but not in the way one might think of it today.

Ignorance is bliss, they say, until you find out the truth, but by then it’s too late.