The Prince and the Pauper
by Mark Twain
First published 1881 · English · 161 pages
- Novels
- Fantasy
- Young adult
In sixteenth-century London, two boys of the same age and strikingly similar looks meet by chance: Edward, the Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a beggar's son. For a lark they swap clothes, and circumstances then keep them from switching back. Each is forced to live in the other's world.
Tom struggles with royal manners and court ceremony, while Edward discovers the hardships and cruelty faced by the poor under the law. Written with humour and warmth, the novel is a story of mistaken identity that also reflects on class, justice and compassion.
Quotes
If that I could but clothe me in raiment like to thine, and strip my feet, and revel in the mud once, just once, with none to rebuke me or forbid, meseemeth I could forego the crown!
Rise, Sir Miles Hendon, Knight," said the King, gravely—giving the accolade with Hendon's sword—"rise, and seat thyself. Thy petition is granted. Whilst England remains, and the crown continues, the privilege shall not lapse.
I beseech your good lordship that order be taken to change this law—oh, let no more poor creatures be visited with its tortures.
Unhand me, thou foolish creature; it was not I that bereaved thee of thy paltry goods.