A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtA Connecticut Yankee is Mark Twain’s most ambitious work, a tour de force with a science-fiction plot told in the racy slang of a Hartford workingman, sparkling with literary hijinks as well as social and political satire. Mark Twain characterized his novel as "one vast sardonic laugh at the trivialities, the servilities of our poor human race." The Yankee, suddenly transported from his native nineteenth-century America to the sleepy sixth-century Britain of King Arthur and the Round Table, vows brashly to "boss the whole country inside of three weeks." And so he does. Emerging as "The Boss," he embarks on an ambitious plan to modernize Camelot—with unexpected results. |
Contents
A Word of Explanation | 1 |
Tailpiece | 9 |
Camelot | 10 |
King Arthurs Court | 14 |
Knights of the Table Round | 22 |
Sir Dinadan the Humorist | 30 |
An Inspiration | 36 |
The Eclipse | 44 |
Initial Letter Chapter | 192 |
The Holy Fountain | 204 |
Restoration of the Fountain | 216 |
A Rival Magician | 226 |
A Competitive Examination | 238 |
The First Newspaper | 252 |
The Yankee and the King Travel Incognito | 265 |
Initial Letter Chapter | 267 |
Merlins Tower | 52 |
That old tower leaped into | 58 |
The Boss | 62 |
That will do I said I reckon | 68 |
The Tournament | 72 |
Go long I said you aint | 74 |
Beginnings of Civilization | 80 |
The flies buzzed and bit | 82 |
The Yankee in Search of Adventures | 87 |
Initial Letter Chapter | 95 |
Slow Torture | 98 |
Freemen | 106 |
Initial Letter Chapter | 108 |
Two of a Kind | 113 |
Defend Thee Lord | 118 |
Effect of the Pipe on the Freemen | 119 |
Sandys Tale | 126 |
Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine | 127 |
It was the largest castle we | 134 |
Morgan le Fay | 138 |
Sir Cote Male Taile | 141 |
A Royal Banquet | 148 |
After prayers we had dinner | 149 |
In the Queens Dungeons | 160 |
The Church the King | 163 |
Children of Monarchy by | 170 |
KnightErrantry as a Trade | 174 |
The Ogres Castle | 180 |
The troublesomest old sow | 186 |
The Pilgrims | 190 |
Drilling the King | 274 |
Armor is heavy yet is it a proud | 277 |
The SmallPox Hut | 282 |
Some Manhood Even in a King | 285 |
The Tragedy of the Manor House | 290 |
The Fire | 293 |
Marco | 302 |
Dowleys Humiliation | 312 |
And were soon as sociable | 313 |
SixthCentury Political Economy | 322 |
Rah for Protection | 323 |
Discrepancy in Noses Makes | 330 |
The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves | 336 |
He was hungry for a fight | 338 |
The Orator | 345 |
A Pitiful Incident | 350 |
He was a man | 352 |
An Encounter in the Dark | 360 |
An Awful Predicament | 366 |
Sir Launcelot and Knights to the Rescue | 376 |
The Yankees Fight with the Knights | 382 |
Three Years Later | 396 |
The Interdict | 406 |
War | 412 |
The Battle of the SandBelt | 426 |
A Postscript by Clarence | 442 |
REFERENCES | 451 |
EXPLANATORY NOTES | 455 |
NOTE ON THE TEXT | 477 |
Common terms and phrases
Agravaine armor Arthur asked Beard began Boss boys Camelot castle century CHAPTER Church Clarence Clemens clothes Connecticut Yankee court damsel Daniel Carter Beard dead death Dowley dream enchantment eyes face fact fair fair lord friends Guenever hand hang hath head heart hermit horse hundred kill king King Arthur king's knew knights Lactantius ladies laugh Lecky live look lord magician Marco Mark Twain matter Merlin milrays mind miracle monks Mordred Morgan le Fay never nobility noble Pellinore person poor pretty priest queen rest rode Sandy Sir Gareth Sir Gawaine Sir Kay Sir Launcelot Sir Lucan Sir Marhaus Sir Mordred Sir Sagramour slave slave band so-on sort spear stand stood sword talk tell thee thing thou thought told took trouble turned unto Valley of Holiness wages wanted woman wonder words