A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Коллекция текстов · novel

Preface
The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also histori…
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
A Word of Explanation It was in Warwick Castle that I came across the curious stranger whom I am going to talk about. He attracted me by th…
The Stranger’s History · Chapter I. Camelot
The Stranger’s History I am an American. I was born and reared in Hartford, in the State of Connecticut—anyway, just over the river, in the…
Chapter II. King Arthur’s Court
The moment I got a chance I slipped aside privately and touched an ancient common looking man on the shoulder and said, in an insinuating,…
Chapter III. Knights of the Table Round
Mainly the Round Table talk was monologues—narrative accounts of the adventures in which these prisoners were captured and their friends an…
Chapter IV. Sir Dinadan the Humorist
It seemed to me that this quaint lie was most simply and beautifully told; but then I had heard it only once, and that makes a difference;…
Chapter V. An Inspiration
I was so tired that even my fears were not able to keep me awake long. When I next came to myself, I seemed to have been asleep a very long…
Chapter VI. The Eclipse
In the stillness and the darkness, realization soon began to supplement knowledge. The mere knowledge of a fact is pale; but when you come…
Chapter VII. Merlin’s Tower
Inasmuch as I was now the second personage in the Kingdom, as far as political power and authority were concerned, much was made of me. My…
Chapter VIII. The Boss
To be vested with enormous authority is a fine thing; but to have the on-looking world consent to it is a finer. The tower episode solidifi…
Chapter IX. The Tournament
They were always having grand tournaments there at Camelot; and very stirring and picturesque and ridiculous human bull-fights they were, t…
Chapter X. Beginnings of Civilization
The Round Table soon heard of the challenge, and of course it was a good deal discussed, for such things interested the boys. The king thou…
Chapter XI. The Yankee in Search of Adventures
There never was such a country for wandering liars; and they were of both sexes. Hardly a month went by without one of these tramps arrivin…
Chapter XII. Slow Torture
Straight off, we were in the country. It was most lovely and pleasant in those sylvan solitudes in the early cool morning in the first fres…
Chapter XIII. Freemen
Yes, it is strange how little a while at a time a person can be contented. Only a little while back, when I was riding and suffering, what…
Chapter XIV. “Defend Thee, Lord”
I paid three pennies for my breakfast, and a most extravagant price it was, too, seeing that one could have breakfasted a dozen persons for…
Chapter XV. Sandy’s Tale
“And so I’m proprietor of some knights,” said I, as we rode off. “Who would ever have supposed that I should live to list up assets of that…
Chapter XVI. Morgan Le Fay
If knights errant were to be believed, not all castles were desirable places to seek hospitality in. As a matter of fact, knights errant we…
Chapter XVII. A Royal Banquet
Madame, seeing me pacific and unresentful, no doubt judged that I was deceived by her excuse; for her fright dissolved away, and she was so…
Chapter XVIII. In the Queen’s Dungeons
Well, I arranged all that; and I had the man sent to his home. I had a great desire to rack the executioner; not because he was a good, pai…
Chapter XIX. Knight-Errantry as a Trade
Sandy and I were on the road again, next morning, bright and early. It was so good to open up one’s lungs and take in whole luscious barrel…
Chapter XX. The Ogre’s Castle
Between six and nine we made ten miles, which was plenty for a horse carrying triple—man, woman, and armor; then we stopped for a long noon…
Chapter XXI. The Pilgrims (1)
When I did get to bed at last I was unspeakably tired; the stretching out, and the relaxing of the long-tense muscles, how luxurious, how d…
Chapter XXI. The Pilgrims (2)
Just here was the wayside shop of a smith; and now arrived a landed proprietor who had bought this girl a few miles back, deliverable here…
Chapter XXII. The Holy Fountain
The pilgrims were human beings. Otherwise they would have acted differently. They had come a long and difficult journey, and now when the j…
Chapter XXIII. Restoration of the Fountain
Saturday noon I went to the well and looked on a while. Merlin was still burning smoke-powders, and pawing the air, and muttering gibberish…
Chapter XXIV. A Rival Magician
My influence in the Valley of Holiness was something prodigious now. It seemed worth while to try to turn it to some valuable account. The…
Chapter XXV. A Competitive Examination (1)
When the king traveled for change of air, or made a progress, or visited a distant noble whom he wished to bankrupt with the cost of his ke…
Chapter XXV. A Competitive Examination (2)
I had a private audience with the king, and made a proposition. I said it was quite right to officer that regiment with nobilities, and he…
Chapter XXVI. The First Newspaper
When I told the king I was going out disguised as a petty freeman to scour the country and familiarize myself with the humbler life of the…
Chapter XXVII. The Yankee and the King Travel Incognito
About bedtime I took the king to my private quarters to cut his hair and help him get the hang of the lowly raiment he was to wear. The hig…
Chapter XXVIII. Drilling the King
On the morning of the fourth day, when it was just sunrise, and we had been tramping an hour in the chill dawn, I came to a resolution: the…
Chapter XXIX. The Smallpox Hut
When we arrived at that hut at mid-afternoon, we saw no signs of life about it. The field near by had been denuded of its crop some time be…
Chapter XXX. The Tragedy of the Manor-House
At midnight all was over, and we sat in the presence of four corpses. We covered them with such rags as we could find, and started away, fa…
Chapter XXXI. Marco
We strolled along in a sufficiently indolent fashion now, and talked. We must dispose of about the amount of time it ought to take to go to…
Chapter XXXII. Dowley’s Humiliation
Well, when that cargo arrived toward sunset, Saturday afternoon, I had my hands full to keep the Marcos from fainting. They were sure Jones…
Chapter XXXIII. Sixth Century Political Economy
However, I made a dead set at him, and before the first third of the dinner was reached, I had him happy again. It was easy to do—in a coun…
Chapter XXXIV. The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves
Well, what had I better do? Nothing in a hurry, sure. I must get up a diversion; anything to employ me while I could think, and while these…
Chapter XXXV. A Pitiful Incident
It’s a world of surprises. The king brooded; this was natural. What would he brood about, should you say? Why, about the prodigious nature…
Chapter XXXVI. An Encounter in the Dark
London—to a slave—was a sufficiently interesting place. It was merely a great big village; and mainly mud and thatch. The streets were mudd…
Chapter XXXVII. An Awful Predicament
Sleep? It was impossible. It would naturally have been impossible in that noisome cavern of a jail, with its mangy crowd of drunken, quarre…
Chapter XXXVIII. Sir Launcelot and Knights to the Rescue
Nearing four in the afternoon. The scene was just outside the walls of London. A cool, comfortable, superb day, with a brilliant sun; the k…
Chapter XXXIX. The Yankee’s Fight with the Knights
Home again, at Camelot. A morning or two later I found the paper, damp from the press, by my plate at the breakfast table. I turned to the…
Chapter XL. Three Years Later
When I broke the back of knight-errantry that time, I no longer felt obliged to work in secret. So, the very next day I exposed my hidden s…
Chapter XLI. The Interdict
However, my attention was suddenly snatched from such matters; our child began to lose ground again, and we had to go to sitting up with he…
Chapter XLII. War!
I found Clarence alone in his quarters, drowned in melancholy; and in place of the electric light, he had reinstituted the ancient rag-lamp…
Chapter XLIII. The Battle of the Sand Belt (1)
In Merlin’s Cave—Clarence and I and fifty-two fresh, bright, well-educated, clean-minded young British boys. At dawn I sent an order to the…
Chapter XLIII. The Battle of the Sand Belt (2)
We crept along on our hands and knees until we were pretty close, and then looked up. Yes, it was a man—a dim great figure in armor, standi…
Chapter XLIV. A Postscript by Clarence
I, Clarence, must write it for him. He proposed that we two go out and see if any help could be accorded the wounded. I was strenuous again…