Name of the Storyteller:  Alison Ching

Title of the Story:  The Young King

Story Source Material:  Adaptatin of a Story by Oscar Wilde

Taletype Classification of the Story:  Fairy Tale

Story Rating:  Young Adult/Adult

Abstract/Summary

As a writer, Oscar Wilde is famous for his witty plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his long poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”. Less well-known are his fairy tales, of which he published two volumes. “The Young King” comes from the book, A House of Pomegranates. It is the story of a boy born to a king’s daughter under scandalous circumstances which force him to be hidden in anonymity with a peasant family. When the old king is on his death bed, the young prince is retrieved as the sole heir and becomes the king himself. At first, he is dazzled by the beautiful jewels, clothes, and works of art that surround him in his new station, and he strives to become a connoisseur of all those fine things. Soon, however, he is forced to question whether it is the outer trappings that make one noble, or if, rather, true nobility is found within.