"I am waited for in Egypt," said the Swallow. "My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus- flowers.
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "will you not stay with me for one night, and be my messenger?
"I don't think I like boys," answered the Swallow. "Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the miller's sons, who were always throwing stones at me.
But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry.
So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince's sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.
Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done.
And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep.
"A swallow in winter!" And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper.
"To-night I go to Egypt," said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect.
"I am waited for in Egypt," answered the Swallow. "To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract.
"Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow," said the Prince, "far away across the city I see a young man in a garret.