Prince and the Pauper , livre ebook

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135 pages

English

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearly mad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they kept this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its troops of revellers making merry around them. There was no talk in all England but of the new baby, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that great lords and ladies were tending him and watching over him - and not caring, either

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819912033
Langue	English

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Chapter I. The birth of the Prince and thePauper.
In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumnday in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was bornto a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him. On thesame day another English child was born to a rich family of thename of Tudor, who did want him. All England wanted him too.England had so longed for him, and hoped for him, and prayed Godfor him, that, now that he was really come, the people went nearlymad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other andcried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor,feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they keptthis up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight tosee, with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, andsplendid pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight tosee, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its troops ofrevellers making merry around them. There was no talk in allEngland but of the new baby, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, who laylapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and notknowing that great lords and ladies were tending him and watchingover him - and not caring, either. But there was no talk about theother baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor rags, except among thefamily of paupers whom he had just come to trouble with hispresence.
Chapter II. Tom's early life.
Let us skip a number of years.
London was fifteen hundred years old, and was agreat town - for that day. It had a hundred thousand inhabitants -some think double as many. The streets were very narrow, andcrooked, and dirty, especially in the part where Tom Canty lived,which was not far from London Bridge. The houses were of wood, withthe second story projecting over the first, and the third stickingits elbows out beyond the second. The higher the houses grew, thebroader they grew. They were skeletons of strong criss-cross beams,with solid material between, coated with plaster. The beams werepainted red or blue or black, according to the owner's taste, andthis gave the houses a very picturesque look. The windows weresmall, glazed with little diamond-shaped panes, and they openedoutward, on hinges, like doors.
The house which Tom's father lived in was up a foullittle pocket called Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane. It wassmall, decayed, and rickety, but it was packed full of wretchedlypoor families. Canty's tribe occupied a room on the third floor.The mother and father had a sort of bedstead in the corner; butTom, his grandmother, and his two sisters, Bet and Nan, were notrestricted - they had all the floor to themselves, and might sleepwhere they chose. There were the remains of a blanket or two, andsome bundles of ancient and dirty straw, but these could notrightly be called beds, for they were not organised; they werekicked into a general pile, mornings, and selections made from themass at night, for service.
Bet and Nan were fifteen years old - twins. Theywere good-hearted girls, unclean, clothed in rags, and profoundlyignorant. Their mother was like them. But the father and thegrandmother were a couple of fiends. They got drunk whenever theycould; then they fought each other or anybody else who came in theway; they cursed and swore always, drunk or sober; John Canty was athief, and his mother a beggar. They made beggars of the children,but failed to make thieves of them. Among, but not of, the dreadfulrabble that inhabited the house, was a good old priest whom theKing had turned out of house and home with a pension of a fewfarthings, and he used to get the children aside and teach themright ways secretly. Father Andrew also taught Tom a little Latin,and how to read and write; and would have done the same with thegirls, but they were afraid of the jeers of their friends, whocould not have endured such a queer accomplishment in them.
All Offal Court was just such another hive asCanty's house. Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order,there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken heads were ascommon as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. Hehad a hard time of it, but did not know it. It was the sort of timethat all the Offal Court boys had, therefore he supposed it was thecorrect and comfortable thing. When he came home empty-handed atnight, he knew his father would curse him and thrash him first, andthat when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all overagain and improve on it; and that away in the night his starvingmother would slip to him stealthily with any miserable scrap orcrust she had been able to save for him by going hungry herself,notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of treason andsoundly beaten for it by her husband.
No, Tom's life went along well enough, especially insummer. He only begged just enough to save himself, for the lawsagainst mendicancy were stringent, and the penalties heavy; so heput in a good deal of his time listening to good Father Andrew'scharming old tales and legends about giants and fairies, dwarfs andgenii, and enchanted castles, and gorgeous kings and princes. Hishead grew to be full of these wonderful things, and many a night ashe lay in the dark on his scant and offensive straw, tired, hungry,and smarting from a thrashing, he unleashed his imagination andsoon forgot his aches and pains in delicious picturings to himselfof the charmed life of a petted prince in a regal palace. Onedesire came in time to haunt him day and night: it was to see areal prince, with his own eyes. He spoke of it once to some of hisOffal Court comrades; but they jeered him and scoffed him sounmercifully that he was glad to keep his dream to himself afterthat.
He often read the priest's old books and got him toexplain and enlarge upon them. His dreamings and readings workedcertain changes in him, by-and-by. His dream-people were so finethat he grew to lament his shabby clothing and his dirt, and towish to be clean and better clad. He went on playing in the mudjust the same, and enjoying it, too; but, instead of splashingaround in the Thames solely for the fun of it, he began to find anadded value in it because of the washings and cleansings itafforded.
Tom could always find something going on around theMaypole in Cheapside, and at the fairs; and now and then he and therest of London had a chance to see a military parade when somefamous unfortunate was carried prisoner to the Tower, by land orboat. One summer's day he saw poor Anne Askew and three men burnedat the stake in Smithfield, and heard an ex-Bishop preach a sermonto them which did not interest him. Yes, Tom's life was varied andpleasant enough, on the whole.
By-and-by Tom's reading and dreaming about princelylife wrought such a strong effect upon him that he began to ACT theprince, unconsciously. His speech and manners became curiouslyceremonious and courtly, to the vast admiration and amusement ofhis intimates. But Tom's influence among these young people beganto grow now, day by day; and in time he came to be looked up to, bythem, with a sort of wondering awe, as a superior being. He seemedto know so much! and he could do and say such marvellous things!and withal, he was so deep and wise! Tom's remarks, and Tom'sperformances, were reported by the boys to their elders; and these,also, presently began to discuss Tom Canty, and to regard him as amost gifted and extraordinary creature. Full-grown people broughttheir perplexities to Tom for solution, and were often astonishedat the wit and wisdom of his decisions. In fact he was become ahero to all who knew him except his own family - these, only, sawnothing in him.
Privately, after a while, Tom organised a royalcourt! He was the prince; his special comrades were guards,chamberlains, equerries, lords and ladies in waiting, and the royalfamily. Daily the mock prince was received with elaborateceremonials borrowed by Tom from his romantic readings; daily thegreat affairs of the mimic kingdom were discussed in the royalcouncil, and daily his mimic highness issued decrees to hisimaginary armies, navies, and viceroyalties.
After which, he would go forth in his rags and beg afew farthings, eat his poor crust, take his customary cuffs andabuse, and then stretch himself upon his handful of foul straw, andresume his empty grandeurs in his dreams.
And still his desire to look just once upon a realprince, in the flesh, grew upon him, day by day, and week by week,until at last it absorbed all other desires, and became the onepassion of his life.
One January day, on his usual begging tour, hetramped despondently up and down the region round about MincingLane and Little East Cheap, hour after hour, bare-footed and cold,looking in at cook-shop windows and longing for the dreadfulpork-pies and other deadly inventions displayed there - for to himthese were dainties fit for the angels; that is, judging by thesmell, they were - for it had never been his good luck to own andeat one. There was a cold drizzle of rain; the atmosphere wasmurky; it was a melancholy day. At night Tom reached home so wetand tired and hungry that it was not possible for his father andgrandmother to observe his forlorn condition and not be moved -after their fashion; wherefore they gave him a brisk cuffing atonce and sent him to bed. For a long time his pain and hunger, andthe swearing and fighting going on in the building, kept him awake;but at last his thoughts drifted away to far, romantic lands, andhe fell asleep in the company of jewelled and gilded princelingswho live in vast palaces, and had servants salaaming before them orflying to execute their orders. And then, as usual, he dreamed thatHE was a princeling himself.
All night long the glories of his royal estate shoneupon him; he moved among great lords and ladies, in a blaze oflight, breathing perfumes, drinking in delicious music, andanswering the reverent obeisances of the glittering throng as itparted