akorn - Mighty Old Tales Retold

The Barber's Tale of His Third Brother - Arabian Nights

The Barber's Tale of His Third Brother
Arabian Nights

The Barber's Tale of His Second Brother - Arabian Nights

The Barber's Tale of His Second Brother
Arabian Nights

The Barber's Tale of His First Brother - Arabian Nights

The Barber's Tale of His First Brother
Arabian Nights

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XXXIII - CONCLUSION - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XXXIII - CONCLUSION - Mark Twain
Miles Hendon was picturesque enough before he got into the riot on London Bridge—he was more so when he got out of it.  He had but little money when he got in, none at all when he got out.  The pickpockets had stripped him of his last farthing.But no matter, so he found his boy.  Being a soldier, he did not go at his task in a random way, but set to work, first of all, to arrange his campaign.What would the boy naturally do?  Where would he naturally go?

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XXXII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XXXII - Mark Twain
Let us go backward a few hours, and place ourselves in Westminster Abbey, at four o'clock in the morning of this memorable Coronation Day.  We are not without company; for although it is still night, we find the torch-lighted galleries already filling up with people who are well content to sit still and wait seven or eight hours till the time shall come for them to see what they may not hope to see twice in their lives—the coronation of a King.  Yes, London and Westminster have been astir ever since the warning guns boomed at three o'clock, and already crowds of untitled rich folk who have bought the privilege of trying to find sitting-room in the galleries are flocking in at the entrances reserved for their sort.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XXXI - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XXXI - Mark Twain
When Tom Canty awoke the next morning, the air was heavy with a thunderous murmur:  all the distances were charged with it.  It was music to him; for it meant that the English world was out in its strength to give loyal welcome to the great day.Presently Tom found himself once more the chief figure in a wonderful floating pageant on the Thames; for by ancient custom the 'recognition procession' through London must start from the Tower, and he was bound thither.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX - Mark Twain
Meantime Miles was growing sufficiently tired of confinement and inaction.  But now his trial came on, to his great gratification, and he thought he could welcome any sentence provided a further imprisonment should not be a part of it.  But he was mistaken about that.  He was in a fine fury when he found himself described as a 'sturdy vagabond' and sentenced to sit two hours in the stocks for bearing that character and for assaulting the master of Hendon Hall.  His pretensions as to brothership with his prosecutor, and rightful heirship to the Hendon honours and estates, were left contemptuously unnoticed, as being not even worth examination.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXVI and XXVII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXVI and XXVII - Mark Twain
The King sat musing a few moments, then looked up and said—"'Tis strange—most strange.  I cannot account for it.""No, it is not strange, my liege.  I know him, and this conduct is but natural.  He was a rascal from his birth.""Oh, I spake not of HIM, Sir Miles.""Not of him?  Then of what?  What is it that is strange?""That the King is not missed.""How?  Which?  I doubt I do not understand.""Indeed?  Doth it not strike you as being passing strange that the land is not filled with couriers and proclamations describing my person and making search for me?  Is it no matter for commotion and distress that the Head of the State is gone; that I am vanished away and lost?"

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXIV and XXV - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXIV and XXV - Mark Twain
The short winter day was nearly ended.  The streets were deserted, save for a few random stragglers, and these hurried straight along, with the intent look of people who were only anxious to accomplish their errands as quickly as possible, and then snugly house themselves from the rising wind and the gathering twilight. They looked neither to the right nor to the left; they paid no attention to our party, they did not even seem to see them. Edward the Sixth wondered if the spectacle of a king on his way to jail had ever encountered such marvellous indifference before.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXII and XXIII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXII and XXIII - Mark Twain
Once more 'King Foo-foo the First' was roving with the tramps and outlaws, a butt for their coarse jests and dull-witted railleries, and sometimes the victim of small spitefulness at the hands of Canty and Hugo when the Ruffler's back was turned.  None but Canty and Hugo really disliked him.  Some of the others liked him, and all admired his pluck and spirit.  During two or three days, Hugo, in whose ward and charge the King was, did what he covertly could to make the boy uncomfortable; and at night, during the customary orgies, he amused the company by putting small indignities upon him—always as if by accident.