A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain [microsoft ebook reader .TXT] 📗

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

By Mark Twain.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Preface A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court A Word of Explanation How Sir Launcelot Slew Two Giants, and Made a Castle Free The Stranger’s History I: Camelot II: King Arthur’s Court III: Knights of the Table Round IV: Sir Dinadan the Humorist V: An Inspiration VI: The Eclipse VII: Merlin’s Tower VIII: The Boss IX: The Tournament X: Beginnings of Civilization XI: The Yankee in Search of Adventures XII: Slow Torture XIII: Freemen! XIV: “Defend Thee, Lord!” XV: Sandy’s Tale XVI: Morgan le Fay XVII: A Royal Banquet XVIII: In the Queen’s Dungeons XIX: Knight-Errantry as a Trade XX: The Ogre’s Castle XXI: The Pilgrims XXII: The Holy Fountain XXIII: Restoration of the Fountain XXIV: A Rival Magician XXV: A Competitive Examination XXVI: The First Newspaper XXVII: The Yankee and the King Travel Incognito XXVIII: Drilling the King XXIX: The Smallpox Hut XXX: The Tragedy of the Manor-House XXXI: Marco XXXII: Dowley’s Humiliation XXXIII: Sixth Century Political Economy XXXIV: The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves XXXV: A Pitiful Incident XXXVI: An Encounter in the Dark XXXVII: An Awful Predicament XXXVIII: Sir Launcelot and Knights to the Rescue XXXIX: The Yankee’s Fight with the Knights XL: Three Years Later XLI: The Interdict XLII: War! XLIII: The Battle of the Sand-Belt XLIV: A Postscript by Clarence Final P.S. by M. T. Endnotes Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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Preface

The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one.

The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability, was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction. I mean, until the author of this book encountered the Pompadour, and Lady Castlemaine, and some other executive heads of that kind; these were found so difficult to work into the scheme, that it was judged better to take the other tack in this book (which must be issued this fall), and then go into training and settle the question in another book. It is, of course, a thing which ought to be settled, and I am not going to have anything particular to do next winter anyway.

Mark Twain

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 three things: his candid simplicity, his marvelous familiarity with ancient armor, and the restfulness of his company⁠—for he did all the talking. We fell together, as modest people will, in the tail of the herd that was being shown through, and he at once began to say things which interested me. As he talked along, softly, pleasantly, flowingly, he seemed to drift away imperceptibly out of this world and time, and into some remote era and old forgotten country; and so he gradually wove such a spell about me that I seemed to move among the specters and shadows and dust and mold of a gray antiquity, holding speech with a relic of it! Exactly as I would speak of my nearest personal friends or enemies, or my most familiar neighbors, he spoke of Sir Bedivere, Sir Bors de Ganis, Sir Launcelot of the Lake, Sir Galahad, and all the other great names of the Table Round⁠—and how old, old, unspeakably old and faded and dry and musty and ancient he came to look as he went on! Presently he turned to me and said, just as one might speak of the weather, or any other common matter⁠—

“You know about transmigration of souls; do you know about transposition of epochs⁠—and bodies?”

I said I had