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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

English BooksWhale Edition by Mark Twain

Twain’s time-travel satire sends American technology and democracy into Arthurian legend.

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” places Hank Morgan in medieval Camelot, where practical engineering, republican confidence, superstition, and violence collide. Twain turns fantasy adventure into sharp satire of power, progress, and historical romance.

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a public-domain work: the author died in 1910, and the text was first published in 1889. This edition uses the original English text.

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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

by

MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens)

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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.

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HARTFORD, July 21, 1889

Table of contents

Inside this edition

  1. 01Full text
  2. 02PREFACE
  3. 03MARK TWAIN
  4. 04A WORD OF EXPLANATION
  5. 05THE STRANGER'S HISTORY
  6. 06THE TALE OF THE LOST LAND
  7. 07CHAPTER II
  8. 08KING ARTHUR'S COURT
  9. 09“IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT.”
  10. 10CHAPTER III
  11. 11KNIGHTS OF THE TABLE ROUND
  12. 12CHAPTER IV
  13. 13SIR DINADAN THE HUMORIST
  14. 14CHAPTER V
  15. 15AN INSPIRATION
  16. 16CHAPTER VI
  17. 17THE ECLIPSE
  18. 18CHAPTER VII
  19. 19MERLIN'S TOWER
  20. 20CHAPTER VIII
  21. 21THE BOSS
  22. 22CHAPTER IX
  23. 23THE TOURNAMENT
  24. 24CHAPTER X
  25. 25BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION
  26. 26CHAPTER XI
  27. 27THE YANKEE IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURES
  28. 28CHAPTER XII
  29. 29SLOW TORTURE
  30. 30CHAPTER XIII
  31. 31FREEMEN
  32. 32CHAPTER XIV
  33. 33“DEFEND THEE, LORD”
  34. 34CHAPTER XV
  35. 35SANDY'S TALE
  36. 36CHAPTER XVI
  37. 37MORGAN LE FAY
  38. 38CHAPTER XVII
  39. 39A ROYAL BANQUET
  40. 40CHAPTER XVIII
  41. 41IN THE QUEEN'S DUNGEONS
  42. 42CHAPTER XIX
  43. 43KNIGHT-ERRANTRY AS A TRADE
  44. 44CHAPTER XX
  45. 45THE OGRE'S CASTLE
  46. 46“USE PETERSON'S PROPHYLACTIC TOOTH-BRUSH--ALL THE GO.”
  47. 47CHAPTER XXI
  48. 48THE PILGRIMS
  49. 49CHAPTER XXII
  50. 50THE HOLY FOUNTAIN
  51. 51CHAPTER XXIII
  52. 52RESTORATION OF THE FOUNTAIN
  53. 53CHAPTER XXIV
  54. 54A RIVAL MAGICIAN
  55. 55CHAPTER XXV
  56. 56A COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION
  57. 57CHAPTER XXVI
  58. 58THE FIRST NEWSPAPER
  59. 59HIGH TIMES IN THE VALLEY
  60. 60OF HOLINESS!
  61. 61THE WATER-WORKS CORKED!
  62. 62THE BUZZARD-ROOST ASTONISHED!
  63. 63UNPARALLELED REJOIBINGS!
  64. 64LOCAL SMOKE AND CINDERS.
  65. 65COURT CIRCULAR.
  66. 66CHAPTER XXVII
  67. 67THE YANKEE AND THE KING TRAVEL INCOGNITO
  68. 68CHAPTER XXVIII
  69. 69DRILLING THE KING
  70. 70CHAPTER XXIX
  71. 71THE SMALLPOX HUT
  72. 72CHAPTER XXX
  73. 73THE TRAGEDY OF THE MANOR-HOUSE
  74. 74CHAPTER XXXI
  75. 75MARCO
  76. 76CHAPTER XXXII
  77. 77DOWLEY'S HUMILIATION
  78. 78CHAPTER XXXIII
  79. 79SIXTH CENTURY POLITICAL ECONOMY
  80. 80CHAPTER XXXIV
  81. 81THE YANKEE AND THE KING SOLD AS SLAVES
  82. 82CHAPTER XXXV
  83. 83A PITIFUL INCIDENT
  84. 84CHAPTER XXXVI
  85. 85AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK
  86. 86CHAPTER XXXVII
  87. 87AN AWFUL PREDICAMENT
  88. 88CHAPTER XXXVIII
  89. 89SIR LAUNCELOT AND KNIGHTS TO THE RESCUE
  90. 90CHAPTER XXXIX
  91. 91THE YANKEE'S FIGHT WITH THE KNIGHTS
  92. 92DE PAR LE ROI.
  93. 93DE PAR LE ROI
  94. 94CHAPTER XL
  95. 95THREE YEARS LATER
  96. 96“HELLO-CENTRAL!”
  97. 97BESSEMERS ULSTERS
  98. 98CHAPTER XLI
  99. 99THE INTERDICT
  100. 100“HELLO-CENTRAL!”
  101. 101CHAPTER XLII
  102. 102WAR!
  103. 103“PROCLAMATION
  104. 104CHAPTER XLIII
  105. 105THE BATTLE OF THE SAND BELT
  106. 106“NO!!!”
  107. 107THE BOSS.
  108. 108CHAPTER XLIV
  109. 109A POSTSCRIPT BY CLARENCE
  110. 110THE END OF THE MANUSCRIPT
  111. 111FINAL P.S. BY M.T.

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