The Prince and the Pauper

This story is another adventure-filled book by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) that takes place in London. Its title is "The Prince and the Pauper".

Here is the summary of the story:

One day, a child named Tom was born into a poor family and became a pauper. On the same day, another child, Edward, was born into a rich family and became the Prince of Wales. During Tom's childhood, he read books about princes.

Many years later, he escaped from his family and ran off. He ended up at the prince's castle only to be treated badly by the guards. However, the prince allowed him to go in. The prince guided him to his room. He then ordered Tom to stay there while he went out of the castle.

Unfortunately, Tom's biological father, John, grabbed the prince. That created a mob trying to free him from John's hold. John hit one of the men trying to free Edward with a club. He later got word that he killed the man and now his family was in danger.

John’s family ran as fast as they can away from their home. Meanwhile, Tom was getting worried about Edward but did not leave the castle. He was mistaken as the Prince of Wales and was treated a lot better than in his former ghetto home.

However, they found out that he could not speak the languages that the real prince could speak. He was later assigned to take lessons. During his lessons, he also made declarations and new laws.

Days later, King Henry VIII died, so now Tom was promoted from prince to king! He made more declarations as the King of England. During the king's River Parade, however, the real king, Edward, declared that he was going to get his throne back.

There, Edward also made a friend with Miles Hendon. He soon became Edward's protector wherever he went. They were sleeping in a house when they found out that Edward had gone missing. When he went outside, one of his servants told him that a man came by who said that Miles sent him to get the boy and bring him back to Miles, which, of course, was a lie told by the man.

The next morning, Tom woke up and Lord Hertford came to him. He was then dressed by his servants. He was then led to the throne room, where Tom was going to conduct a speech. One subject was about the former king's debts. He soon found out that being a king wasn't what he was expecting.

A boy was then sent into the throne room. He was Tom's whipping boy, Humphrey Marlow. Whenever Tom fails a test, Humphrey gets whipped. Tom thought that was unfair and declared that Humphrey should not get whipped ever again.

Tom was scheduled to dine out in public on his fourth day of being a king to see if he was ready to rule the kingdom. When he looked out the window, he saw an angry mob outside. One of Tom's pages told him that the mob was following a man that was about to be executed. He then ordered that man to be sent to the castle.

When the criminal arrived, he remembered that the man saved his friend, Giles, from drowning. That criminal had been accused for poisoning. After listening to the story, Tom declared that there wasn't enough evidence to find out if the criminal really poisoned someone.

At Tom's dinner,

Gulliver's Travels

 

This book that I have read is also a great adventure book. It was written by Jonathan Swift, born in Ireland in 1667.

Here is the summary:

Lemuel Gulliver's father left his son when he was a kid, but over the years Gulliver became more independent and soon he was on a ship headed for the East Indies when a powerful storm blew the Antelope (the ship) off course.

Gulliver was all alone in the sea when he spotted a beach. A crowd of tiny people there shot him with a lot of arrows at his hand, which forced him to surrender. He was then taken to the capital of Lilliput (the island). There he met with the emperor and empress of Lilliput. Many of the residents there were astounded by his size (they were only 6 inches tall). The emperor ordered a feast for Gulliver and ordered people to make a bed and a blanket for him.

Days later, Gulliver learned the Lilliputians' language and asked for freedom. He was then checked for weapons before he could leave. The emperor held a performance with rope dancers, jugglers, acrobats and more. Gulliver wanted to do an act of his own.

He gathered the Lilliputian army and ordered a mock battle. For the grand finale, he ordered the soldiers to march between his legs. The ministers wrote a document stating the terms of his freedom. After gaining his freedom, he visited the palace and took a look inside all the windows, being guided by the empress.

Two weeks later, the secretary of a secret agency asked Gulliver to destroy the Blefuscan fleet because of a conflict that soon turned into a war. The cause of the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu was the way how to break an egg, smaller side or larger side. To them, it was a serious matter.

He crossed the 800-yard sea to Blefuscu to take the enemy fleet by grabbing ropes attached to the ship. At the sight of Gulliver, dubbed "Man Mountain", they were in shock. He cut the anchor ropes holding the ships in place and carried the enemy fleet back to Lilliput.

However, Gulliver was then charged with treason for refusing to conquer Blefuscu. Afterwards, some people in the council began to plot against him. Shortly after, the empress's apartment was on fire, and during a desperate attempt to put out the fire, he sprayed water out of his mouth, putting out the fire.

However, he did not know that spitting on palace grounds was against the law. For the misdeeds he committed, they planned to put his eyes out with arrows. Gulliver later escaped to Blefuscu and rode home after that, but another storm caught the ship near Madagascar.

He ended up in a place where he was the small person and the rest were giants. That land was called Brobdingnag. He later lived with a family who had a little girl named Glumdalclitch, and she quickly became Gulliver's best friend.

The farmer then sold him to the highest bidder. The high bidder was the queen. The farmer then granted permission to Glumdalclitch to stay with Gulliver.

A dwarf who wanted to get revenge on Gulliver (for making fun of his height) gathered the biggest flies ad sent them out against Gulliver, but they were no match against his skills as a swordsman.

On another account, a swarm of wasps entered his room through the window. Four of them were killed, but the rest escaped. He soon made one of the stingers into a trophy.

The queen made a boat and a river for Gulliver to sail in. He later found a ship to take him home, but he ended up in a place called Laputa, which was floating in the sky. There was a kingdom below named Balnibarbi. A resident named Munodi led him across the kingdom, exploring every area of the kingdom. He then went back home on another ship.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

I haven't read in a long while, but I felt that I should read another book. This time, it was a wonderful adventure that spans many years. It is called The Adventures of Robin Hood, by Howard Pyle, a Delawarean.

Here is a summary of the story:

In a peaceful English community lived a famous outlaw named Robin Hood, whose reputation was to rob the rich and donate to the poor. Over the years, he has collected more members in his band of over 140 men!

He became an outlaw at 18 years, when he argued with a group of foresters and shot the leader of a herd of deer with a bow and arrow. Afterward, he also shot one of the foresters! Unfortunately, that forester was a relative of King Henry II, who was ruling England at that time. The Sheriff of Nottingham put up a big reward for his capture.

Later, when his band was a little over 100 men, he got in an argument with a wealthy stranger. They challenged each other to a fight, and after a whole load of fighting, Robin won. He then won in an archery contest, so the stranger, named John Little (renamed Little John), joined Robin and his band of 100 men.

A messenger spread the word about Robin Hood across Nottingham, going as far as the Blue Boar Inn, where he joined a group consisting of friars, foresters, and a tinker. The tinker met Robin Hood twice, and on the second time, they fought against each other. Robin won against him and the tinker joined him, just like Little John did.

The Sheriff of Nottingham wanted Robin Hood to be caught, but he could not place a warrant on him. He met with King Henry II, and they devised a plan to hold an archery contest to entice and capture Robin Hood. One of Robin's men, however, told him that the contest was a trap. He still entered the contest, but in disguise. The rest of the men were also in disguise.

During the elimination round of the archery contest, the sheriff was disappointed because he could not find Robin among the archers competing. As expected, he got the best shot and won first prize (a golden arrow) under the clever pseudonym Jock o' Teviotdale. Later that day, the sheriff received a note that the winner of the contest was actually Robin Hood himself!

The sheriff sent 300 constables against Robin's band, but they all hid. The constables searched for a week and found nothing. However, a member of the band, Will Stutely, was captured when he tried to get some news. Robin's gang all went to Nottingham to rescue Will. The sheriff's men and Robin's men fought against each other until Little John threw a sword at Will so that he could free himself.

Robin asked a butcher if he could replace him for a day. The butcher agreed. Robin charged only a penny for meat with a three-penny value. Some of Robin's men and the sheriff ate together without the sheriff knowing that Robin was near him. After dinner, they stripped the sheriff of his money.

Later, Arthur-a-Bland lost to Little John and then he agreed to join Robin. They met a gentleman who they fought against, but because Robin recognized him, the gentleman, renamed Will Scarlet, joined Robin's band. They found a minstrel who was deeply troubled. After comforting him, he joined the band by the name of Allan-a-Dale.

They sent off to find the Friar of Fountain Abbey, so Allan-a-Dale could get married. But without knowing, Robin found himself fighting the Friar of Fountain Abbey. The friar sent out his dogs against him. Will Scarlet later explained to Robin that he was actually fighting the friar himself.

They were now heading to Sherwood to explain to the friar about Allan-a-Dale's dilemma. Next, they headed to the church for Allan-a-Dale's wedding, but it appeared that Ellen o' the Dale was going to marry Sir Stephen of Trent, so the bishop said that Sir Stephen was not Ellen's true love. Ellen's father wanted Sir Stephen to marry Ellen, but Sir Stephen objected. Robin gave Allan-a-Dale gifts while he forced the bishop to hand over his gold chain and give it to Allan-a-Dale.

The next day, a page was sent by Queen Eleanor to inform Robin that there will be another shooting contest. There were 800 people competing for first prize (50 pounds of gold coins, a silver bugle, and ten gold-tipped arrows). The bishop then exposed the identity of four men in Robin's band.

Then, the ten best archers competed, and then Robin Hood and another man named Gilbert faced off against each other, because all three of their shots hit dead center. Robin won the grand prize, but the page, whose name was Richard Partington warned Robin about King Henry and how he would track him down.

That night, Robin's band was warned by Richard that the king has sent men to arrest him. Sir Richard passed by and agreed to take Robin to London for his safety.

A stranger named Guy of Gisbourne came after Robin and held an archery contest. As usual, Robin won, but Guy of Gisbourne was going to fight Robin, and he did. But Robin had killed him, and he was unhappy that he killed two people so far. He did not want to kill at all.

The following day, King Richard, the new king after King Henry had died, was visiting Nottingham. King Richard wanted to meet Robin Hood in person mostly because of the zany adventures he has gotten into. He later met with Robin during a banquet and paid 50 pounds of gold money. Robin later got into a fight with King Richard and whoever wins gets the money (50 pounds). King Richard defeated Robin, unlike all the other men.

The next day Robin, Will Scarlet, Little John, and Allan-a-Dale rode with King Richard.

For many years, Robin did not return to Sherwood Forest, but eventually Little John and Will Scarlet left. But years later, King Richard was killed in a battle, only to be replaced by John.

Robin Hood came back to Sherwood Forest and declared that he would become a yeoman once more. Everyone in his former outlaw band came to the scene.

But later, King John sent Sir William Dale to go look for Robin. When he eventually did, his men and Robin's men fought against each other. Robin later got injured. Then, in front of Little John, he would shoot his last arrow. That would be where Robin's grave would be.

The End