Oscar Wilde tells stories in Paris (1888-1900)

The lying portrait 

Once upon a time there was a king, who was really rich, probably the richest king ever, who thought he was beautiful, or, better, people made him think he was. 

One day, while he was out for a walk, he met a beggar, who asked him for money. The king told him he only had one of his portrait in his pocket and gave it to the beggar. He gave him a coin with a face on it but the face portrayed didn’t really look like the king. The face was completely different. The beggar, who firstly didn’t realise the one he was talking to was the king, pointed this out to the king and said what nobody ever told him: the truth. The king finds out that he has never been that beautiful as people made him think. The beggar regrets what he has just said and looks for mercy from the king: he was scared the king was going to kill him. 

Contrary to expectations, the king thanks the poor boy for his honesty and for making him realise what the reality was. This shows the importance of telling the truth, that must be put upon everything. 

G. Bella, S. Marchese, V. La Barbera, M. Pierro 
VM, Liceo Scientifico B.Croce, Palermo

The glass eye

A rich man became blind from one eye, so he decided to put a glass eye to replace it. It was made from the most beautiful and bright crystal he found, in fact it was very difficult to recognize. One day, he challenged one of his best friends to distinguish the real eye from the glass one and he guessed without problems. So the man said that the reason was that his friend knew him too well and they decided to ask to an unkown one in the middle of the street. But this man recognized the fake eye too and when the rich man asked him how he could have guessed, he answered that the real eye was the only one in which he saw a bit of pity.

 Andrea Buscemi, Barbara Baiamonte, Ginevra Lupo, Marlene D’Aleo VM