The Star-Child by Oscar Wilde. Short summary

5 seconds

The lumberjack raised the boy found at the site of the falling star. He grew up callous and drove his mother away. But then he repented and went looking for her. After the ordeal, he became king.

1 minute

Lumberjacks saw the place where the star fell and found the baby wrapped in a golden cloak. One of the Lumberjacks, despite his poverty, decided to take an extra mouthful. But the boy grew up cruel, he tortured animals and was rude to people.

One day he threw stones at a beggar woman. When the woodcutter heard the boy’s story, she lost her senses and, upon awakening, said that he was her son. But the hustler didn’t want to hear about the pauper mother.

«I’d rather kiss a toad or a viper than you,» he said, and went off to play with the children. But they didn’t accept him. Looking at the reflection in the pond, the boy realized that he had become like a toad and a viper. He went looking for the beggar girl.

The evil wizard enslaved the boy and made him search the terrible forest for coins of white, yellow and red gold. The boy freed the little rabbit from the trap, and the rabbit showed him the location of the treasure.

But three times the boy gave the coins to a leper begging for alms. On the third time, the ugliness disappeared, and the beggar and the leper turned into a king and queen — his parents.