Rich with surprise and hilarious adventure,THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is a delightful satire of England's romantic past and a joyful boyhood romp filled with the same tongue-in-cheek irony that sparked the best of Mark Twain's tall tales.Two boys, one an urchin from London's filthy lanes,the other a prince born in a lavish palace,unwittingly trade identities. Thus a bedraggled "'Prince of Poverty" discovers that his private dreams have all come true--while a pampered Prince of Wales finds himself tossed into a rough-and-tumble world of squalid beggars and villainous thieves. Originally written as a story for children, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is a classic novel for adults as well--through its stinging attack on the ageless human folly of attempting to measure true worth by outer appearances.

I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who had it of his father, which latter had it of his father, this last having in like manner had it of his father--and so on, back and still back, three hundred years and more, the fathers transmitting it to the sons and so preserving it. It may be history, it may be only legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. It may be that the wise and the learned believed it in the old days; it may be that only the unlearned and the simple loved it and credited it.

Preface

Chapter 1

THE BIRTH OF THE PRINCE AND THE

PAUPER

Chapter 2

TOM"S EARLY LIFE

Chapter 3

TOM"S MEETING WITH THE PRINCE

Chapter 4

THE PRINCE"S TROUBLES BEGIN

Chapter 5

TOM AS A PATRICIAN

Chapter 6

TOM RECEIVES INSTRUCTIONS

Chapter 7

TOM"S FIRST ROYAL DINNER

Chapter 8

THE QUESTION OF THE SEAL

Chapter 9

THE RIVER PAGEANT

Chapter 10

THE PRINCE IN THE TOILS

Chapter 11

AT GUILDHALL

Chapter 12

THE PRINCE AND HIS DELWERER

Chapter 13

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PRINCE

Chapter 14

"LE ROI EST MORT-VIVE LE ROI"

Chapter 15

TOM AS KING

Chapter 16

THE STATE DINNER

Chapter 17

FOO-FOO THE FIRST

Chapter 18

THE PRINCE WITH THE TRAMPS

Chapter 19

THE PRINCE WITH THE PEASANTS

Chapter 20

THE PRINCE AND THE HERMIT

Chapter 21

HENDON TO THE RESCUE

Chapter 22

A VICTIM OF TREACHERY

Chapter 23

THE PRINCE A PRISONER

Chapter 24

THE ESCAPE

Chapter 25

HENDON HALL

Chapter 26

DISOWNED

Chapter 27

IN PRISON

Chapter 28

THE SACRIFICE

Chapter 29

TO LONDON

Chapter 30

TOM"S PROGRESS

Chapter 31

THE RECOGNITION PROCESSION

Chapter 32

CORONATION DAY

Chapter 33

EDWARD AS KING

Conclusion

JUSTICE AND RETRIBUTION

Notes