The Prince and the Pauper was written by Mark Twin, a famous American Writer in the 19th century. It tells a story that happened in the time of King Henry VIII between an English prince named Edward Tutor and an English beggar boy named Tom Canty.
One day in 1537, two boys were born in England. One was Edward Tutor and one was Tom Canty. Out of some special reason, two of them looked amazingly alike. Although they were born on the same day, they lived different lives. Edward lived in the palace, having everybody serving him every day. But Tom lived in Fish Street, begging around the city for a penny.
These two boys looked like two kinds of people that would never meet together in this world. But life is sometimes tricky: the prince and the pauper did meet in the palace in the year when they were both ten. That day, the pauper was begging in the palace, and having been discovered by the King’s Guards he was given a good beating. Prince Edward happened to pass by at this time and saw what was going on. As a young prince who was eager to exercise his princely power as well as being sympathetic and just by nature, he became very angry with the guards who bullied a little boy of his age. He did not only command the guards to stop their doing, but also invited Tom to go into the palace to play with him. Tom hesitated at first out of fear but then gladly agreed to the Prince’s insistent invitation. The two boys stayed in the Prince’s bedroom and chatted for a long time while playing. They talked about their own lives. Edward became curious about the life of a beggar, and suggested switching clothes for fun. So Edward became the beggar and Tom became the prince. But then something unexpected happened, when the guards saw Edward coming out of the palace in the beggar’s rags, they threw their prince out of the palace. No matter how Edward explained about his identity, the guards would not believe him and still drove him out, and Edward had to leave the palace sadly and helplessly.
Now Edward had nowhere to go, and remembering that Tom told him of his address at Fish Street, Edward decided to go there and meet Tom’s family. When Edward met Tom’s father John Canty the thief, he was taken as Tom immediately, and was forced to give the money from his begging.. When Edward told him that he had got nothing and he was a prince, John beat him hard and thought “Tom” was mad.
At the same time, Tom was on edge while he was in the palace. He knelt down to everyone in the palace begging to go home. Everyone in the palace thought that their little prince was going mad. Just at this time, the old King died, and Tom the beggar was going to be made King of England.
When Edward heard the news of his father’s death, he was very sad and sneaked out of John’s house and went to the palace, crying in the mourning crowd. When the people saw that he was a beggar, they made fun of him, thinking that a beggar did not have the right to mourn for the dead king. Edward was angry and wanted to beat the crowd but ended up with himself being beaten by the crowd.
On the day of the coronation, Edward rushed into the church and managed to stop the ceremony in time, for if the ceremony was completed,Tom would officially become the King of England and Edward would be known as the beggar forever. Tom was not greedy for the power of King, and was more than happy to have the real prince ascend to the throne. So when Tom recognized Edward in rags rushing toward the coronation seat, he was extremely happy and relieved. He showed the ministers and the priests who the true King was. The story ended with Edward crowned the King and Tom becoming his chief minister.
The story tells us that a man who does not have a good family but a good heart and willing to help the poor can also be a good king and a good ruler just like Tom. Although his father was a thief and his grandmother a beggar, he still ruled England well and abolished a lot of cruel laws during the time that everyone thought he was the king. On the other hand a wise king who knows how to rule his country and rules his country well always needs to spend some time with the poor to hear their needs and their thoughts about the country’s law. At the time when Edward was a beggar, he knew that not all criminals were bad. Some of them had to steal or else they would die of hunger and thirst. So in the reign of King Edward, he made a lot of good laws according to the poor people’s need. So Edward became a good king in the English history.