Have you ever thought about what fiction is? Probably, such a question may seem surprising: and so everything is clear. Every person throughout his life has to repeatedly create the works he needs for specific purposes - statements, autobiographies, dictations - using not gypsum or clay, not musical notes, not paints, but just a word. At the same time, almost every person will be very surprised if he is told that he thereby created a work of fiction, which is very different from visual art, music and sculpture making. However, everyone understands that a student's essay or dictation is fundamentally different from novels, short stories, news that are created by professional writers. In the works of professionals there is the most important difference - excogitation. But, oddly enough, in a school literature course, you donât realize the full power of fiction. So using our website in your free time discover fiction for yourself. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (portable ebook reader TXT) đ
- Author: Mark Twain
Book online «The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (portable ebook reader TXT) đ». Author Mark Twain
âOf a surety thou must remember me, my lord. I am thy whipping-boy.â
âMy whipping-boy?â
âThe same, your Grace. I am HumphreyâHumphrey Marlow.â
Tom perceived that here was someone whom his keepers ought to have posted him about. The situation was delicate. What should he do?âpretend he knew this lad, and then betray by his every utterance that he had never heard of him before? No, that would not do. An idea came to his relief: accidents like this might be likely to happen with some frequency, now that business urgencies would often call Hertford and St. John from his side, they being members of the Council of Executors; therefore perhaps it would be well to strike out a plan himself to meet the requirements of such emergencies. Yes, that would be a wise courseâhe would practise on this boy, and see what sort of success he might achieve. So he stroked his brow perplexedly a moment or two, and presently saidâ
âNow I seem to remember thee somewhatâbut my wit is clogged and dim with sufferingââ
âAlack, my poor master!â ejaculated the whipping-boy, with feeling; adding, to himself, âIn truth âtis as they saidâhis mind is goneâalas, poor soul! But misfortune catch me, how am I forgetting! They said one must not seem to observe that aught is wrong with him.â
ââTis strange how my memory doth wanton with me these days,â said Tom. âBut mind it notâI mend apaceâa little clue doth often serve to bring me back again the things and names which had escaped me. (And not they, only, forsooth, but eâen such as I neâer heard beforeâas this lad shall see.) Give thy business speech.â
ââTis matter of small weight, my liege, yet will I touch upon it, anâ it please your Grace. Two days gone by, when your Majesty faulted thrice in your Greekâin the morning lessons,âdost remember it?â
âY-e-sâmethinks I do. (It is not much of a lieâanâ I had meddled with the Greek at all, I had not faulted simply thrice, but forty times.) Yes, I do recall it, nowâgo on.â
âThe master, being wroth with what he termed such slovenly and doltish work, did promise that he would soundly whip me for itâandââ
âWhip thee!â said Tom, astonished out of his presence of mind. âWhy should he whip thee for faults of mine?â
âAh, your Grace forgetteth again. He always scourgeth me when thou dost fail in thy lessons.â
âTrue, trueâI had forgot. Thou teachest me in privateâthen if I fail, he argueth that thy office was lamely done, andââ
âOh, my liege, what words are these? I, the humblest of thy servants, presume to teach thee?â
âThen where is thy blame? What riddle is this? Am I in truth gone mad, or is it thou? Explainâspeak out.â
âBut, good your Majesty, thereâs nought that needeth simplifying.âNone may visit the sacred person of the Prince of Wales with blows; wherefore, when he faulteth, âtis I that take them; and meet it is and right, for that it is mine office and my livelihood.â {1}
Tom stared at the tranquil boy, observing to himself, âLo, it is a wonderful thing,âa most strange and curious trade; I marvel they have not hired a boy to take my combings and my dressings for meâwould heaven they would!âanâ they will do this thing, I will take my lashings in mine own person, giving God thanks for the change.â Then he said aloudâ
âAnd hast thou been beaten, poor friend, according to the promise?â
âNo, good your Majesty, my punishment was appointed for this day, and peradventure it may be annulled, as unbefitting the season of mourning that is come upon us; I know not, and so have made bold to come hither and remind your Grace about your gracious promise to intercede in my behalfââ
âWith the master? To save thee thy whipping?â
âAh, thou dost remember!â
âMy memory mendeth, thou seest. Set thy mind at easeâthy back shall go unscathedâI will see to it.â
âOh, thanks, my good lord!â cried the boy, dropping upon his knee again. âMayhap I have ventured far enow; and yetââ
Seeing Master Humphrey hesitate, Tom encouraged him to go on, saying he was âin the granting mood.â
âThen will I speak it out, for it lieth near my heart. Sith thou art no more Prince of Wales but King, thou canst order matters as thou wilt, with none to say thee nay; wherefore it is not in reason that thou wilt longer vex thyself with dreary studies, but wilt burn thy books and turn thy mind to things less irksome. Then am I ruined, and mine orphan sisters with me!â
âRuined? Prithee how?â
âMy back is my bread, O my gracious liege! if it go idle, I starve. Anâ thou cease from study mine office is gone thouâlt need no whipping-boy. Do not turn me away!â
Tom was touched with this pathetic distress. He said, with a right royal burst of generosityâ
âDiscomfort thyself no further, lad. Thine office shall be permanent in thee and thy line for ever.â Then he struck the boy a light blow on the shoulder with the flat of his sword, exclaiming, âRise, Humphrey Marlow, Hereditary Grand Whipping-Boy to the Royal House of England! Banish sorrowâI will betake me to my books again, and study so ill that they must in justice treble thy wage, so mightily shall the business of thine office be augmented.â
The grateful Humphrey responded fervidlyâ
âThanks, O most noble master, this princely lavishness doth far surpass my most distempered dreams of fortune. Now shall I be happy all my days, and all the house of Marlow after me.â
Tom had wit enough to perceive that here was a lad who could be useful to him. He encouraged Humphrey to talk, and he was nothing loath. He was delighted to believe that he was helping in Tomâs âcureâ; for always, as soon as he had finished calling back to Tomâs diseased mind the various particulars of his experiences and adventures in the royal school-room and elsewhere about the palace, he noticed that Tom was then able to ârecallâ the circumstances quite clearly. At the end of an hour Tom found himself well freighted with very valuable information concerning personages and matters pertaining to the Court; so he resolved to draw instruction from this source daily; and to this end he would give order to admit Humphrey to the royal closet whenever he might come, provided the Majesty of England was not engaged with other people. Humphrey had hardly been dismissed when my Lord Hertford arrived with more trouble for Tom.
He said that
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