The Prince and the Pauper
Classical Stories · No. 88 — Two identical boys swap clothes — and thrones.
- Classical Stories
- 42 min
- Ages 15–99
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
In old London, two boys born on the same day look astonishingly alike: Tom Canty, a beggar boy raised in poverty and cruelty, and Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. When chance brings them face to face in the palace, they swap clothes to marvel at the resemblance — and are instantly mistaken for each other. The prince, thrown out as a ragged impostor, is plunged into the harsh streets, workhouses, and unjust laws his own crown upholds, learning what his subjects truly suffer. Tom, trapped in the palace as everyone insists he is the prince gone strange in the head, blunders through courtly life and, judging cases, brings unexpected common-sense mercy to royal justice. As the old king dies and a coronation looms, the two boys race to set right who is who — the true prince now a wiser king-to-be for having lived as the lowest of his people.
Why it's worth a listen
Two boys who look exactly alike — one a prince in a palace, one a pauper in the gutters of London — meet by chance and, for a lark, trade clothes, only to be mistaken for each other and swept into each other's lives. The prince learns hard lessons about how his poorest subjects really live, and the pauper stumbles through royal riddles, in Twain's warm, funny, sharp story about privilege, justice, and walking in someone else's shoes.
A question to keep
How differently would you understand the world if you had to live someone else's life for a while?
Chapters
- Two Boys, Two Worlds
- Cast Out into the Cold
- The Prince Who Forgot Himself
- The Knight of the Ragged Kingdom
- The Race to Westminster
- A Question to Keep