One of the chief functions of the true fairy story is to excite sympathy. Whether they are princes, peasants, or inanimate objects (Was the immortal tin soldier an inanimate object?), the joys and sorrows of the heroes and heroines of fairyland will always be real to those persons, whatever their age may be, who love the fairy story, and regard it as the most delightful form of romance. Mr. Oscar Wilde, no doubt for excellent reasons, has chosen to present his fables in the form of fairy tales to a public which, though it should count among its numbers most persons who can appreciate delicate humour and an artistic literary manner, will assuredly not be composed of children. No child will sympathize at all with Mr. Wilde's Happy Prince when he is melted down by order of the Mayor and Corporation in obedience to the dictum of the art professor at the University that, since 'he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful'. Children do not care for satire, and the dominant spirit of these stories is satire---a bitter satire differing widely from that of Hans Andersen, whom Mr. Wilde's literary manner so constantly recalls to us. This quality of bitterness, however, does not repel the reader (except in the story of the 'Devoted Friend', which is at once the cleverest and least agreeable in the volume), inasmuch as Mr. Wilde always contrives to leave us at the end of every tale with a very pleasant sensation of the humorous. Perhaps the best example of Mr.Wilde's method is to be found in 'The Nightingale and the Rose'. Here the nightingale has sacrificed its life in order to obtain a red rose for the student. The student repairs with the nightingale's gift to the daughter of the Professor, in order to present the rose to her:

It may be remarked in connexion with this story that, in order to get the desired effect at the conclusion, Mr. Wilde has gone dangerously near the region of sham sentiment. It is the only place in the book where his artistic sense has stumbled a little along with his natural history.