The moment I got a chance I slipped aside privately and touched an ancient common-looking man on the shoulder and said, in an insinuating, confidential way—
“Friend, do me a kindness. Do you belong to the asylum, or are you just here on a visit, or something like that?”
He looked me over, stupidly, and said—
“Marry, fair sir, meseemethⒶemendation—”
“That willⒶalteration in the MS do,” I said; “I reckon you areⒶalteration in the MS a patient.”
I moved away, cogitating, and at the same time keeping an eye out for any chance passenger in his right mind that might come along and give me some light. I judged I had found one, presently; so I drew him aside and said in his ear—
[begin page 61]“If I could see the head keeper a minute—only just a minute—”
“Prithee do not let me.”
“Let you what?”
“Hinder me, then, if the word please theeⒶemendation better.” Then he went on to say he was an under-cook and could not stop to gossip, though he would like it another time, for it would comfort his very liver to know where I got my clothes. As he started away he pointed and said yonder was one who was idle enough for my purpose, and was seeking me besides, no doubt. This was an airy slim boy in shrimp-coloredⒶalteration in the MS tights that made him look like a forked carrot; the rest of his gear was blue silk and daintyⒶemendation laces and ruffles; and he had long yellow curls, and wore a plumedⒶalteration in the MS pink satin cap tilted complacently over his ear. By his look, he was good-naturedⒶemendation; byⒶalteration in the MS his gait,Ⓐemendation Ⓐtextual note he was satisfied with himself. He was pretty enough to frame. He arrived, looked me over with a smiling and impudent curiosity; said he had come for me, and informed me that he was a page.
“Go ’long,” I said, “you ain’t more than a paragraph.”
It was pretty severe, but I was nettled. However, it never fazedⒶemendation Ⓐtextual note him; he didn’t appear to know he was hurt. He began to talk and laugh, in happy, thoughtless, boyish fashion, as we walked along, and made himself old friends with me at once; asked me all sorts of questions about myself and about my clothesⒶemendation, but never waited for an answer —always chattered straight ahead, as if he didn’t know he had asked a question and wasn’t expecting any reply; until at last he happened to mention that he was born in the beginning of the year 513.
It made the cold chills creep over me!Ⓐemendation I stopped, and said, a little faintly:
“Maybe I didn’t hear you just right. Say it again—and say it slow. What year was it?”
“513.”
“513!Ⓐemendation You don’t look it!Ⓐemendation Come my boy, I am a stranger and friendless: be honest and honorable with me. Are you in your right mind?”
He said he was.
“Are these other people in their right minds?”
He said they were.
“And this isn’t an asylum? I mean, it isn’t a place where they cure crazy people?”
He said it wasn’t.
[begin page 62]“Well, then,” I said, “either I am a lunatic or something just as awful has happened. Now tell me, honestⒶalteration in the MS and true, where am I?”
“ In King Arthur’s court Ⓐemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS.”
I waited a minute, to let that idea shudder its wayⒶalteration in the MS home, and then said:
“And according to your notions, what year is it now?”
“528—nineteenth of June.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
I feltⒶalteration in the MS a mournful sinking at the heart, and muttered: “I shall never see my friends again—never, never againⒶemendation. They will not be born for more than thirteen hundred years yet.”
I seemed to believe the boy, I didn’t know why. Something Ⓐemendation in me seemed to believe him—my consciousness, as you may say; but my reason didn’t. My reason straightwayⒶemendation began to clamor; that was natural. I didn’t know how to go about satisfying it, because I knew that [begin page 63] the testimony of men wouldn’t serve—my reason would say they were lunatics, and throw out their evidence. But all of a sudden I stumbled on the very thing, just by luck. I knew that the only total eclipse of the sun in the first half of the sixth century occurred on theⒶalteration in the MS 21st of June, a. d. 528, O. S.Ⓐalteration in the MS, and began at 3 minutes after 12 noon.Ⓐalteration in the MS I also knew that no totalⒶalteration in the MS eclipse of the sun was due in what to me was the present year—i.e., 1879.Ⓐalteration in the MS So, if I could keep my anxiety and curiosity from eating the heart out of me for forty-eight hours, I should then find out for certain whether this boy was telling me the truth or not.
Wherefore, being a practical Connecticut man,Ⓐalteration in the MS I nowⒶalteration in the MS shoved this whole problemⒶalteration in the MS clear out of my mind till its appointed day and hour should come, in order that I might turn allⒶrejected substantive my attention to the circumstances of the present moment, and be alert and ready to make the most out of them that could be made. One thing at a time, is my motto—and just play that thing for all it isⒶalteration in the MS worth, evenⒶemendation if it’s only twoⒶemendation pair and a jackⒶalteration in the MS. I made up my mind to two things: if it was still the nineteenth century and I was among lunatics and couldn’t get away, I would presentlyⒶalteration in the MS boss that asylum or know the reason why; and if on the other hand it was really the sixth century, all right, I didn’t want any softerⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS thing: I would boss the whole country inside of three months; for I judged I would have the start of the best educated man in the kingdom by a matter of thirteen hundred yearsⒶtextual note and upwards. I’m not a man to waste time afterⒶalteration in the MS my mind’s made up and there’sⒶalteration in the MS work on hand; so I said to the page—
“Now, Clarence, my boy—if that might happen to be your name—I’llⒶemendation get you to post me up a little if you don’t mind. What is the name of that apparitionⒶalteration in the MS thatⒶemendation Ⓐrejected substantive brought me here?”
“My master and thine? That is the good knight and great lord Sir Kay the Seneschal, foster brother to our liege the king.”
“Very good; go on, tell me everything.”
He made a long story of it; but the part that had immediate interest for me was this. He said I was Sir Kay’s prisoner, and that in the due courseⒶalteration in the MS of custom I would be flung into a dungeon and left there on scant commons until my friends ransomed me—unless I chanced to rot, first. I saw that the last chance had the best show, but I didn’t waste any bother about that; time was too precious. The page said, further, that dinner was about ended in the great hall by this time, and that as soon as the sociability and the heavy drinking should begin, Sir Kay [begin page 64] would have me in and exhibit me before KingⒶalteration in the MS Arthur and his illustrious knights seated at the Table Round, and would brag about his exploit in capturing me, and would probably exaggerate the facts a little, but it wouldn’t be good form for me to correct him, and not over safe, either; and when I was done being exhibited, then ho for the dungeon; but he, Clarence, would find a way to come and see me every now and then, and cheer me up, and help me get word to my friends.
Get wordⒶalteration in the MS to my friends!Ⓐemendation I thanked him; I couldn’t do less; and about this time a lackey came to say I was wanted; so Clarence led me in and took me off to one side and sat down by me.Ⓐalteration in the MS
[begin page 65]Well, it was a curious kindⒶtextual note of spectacle, and interesting. It was an immense place, and rather naked—yes, and full of loud contrasts. It was very, very lofty; so lofty that the banners depending from the arched beams and girders away up there floated in a sort of twilight; there was a stone-railed gallery at each end, high up, with musicians in the one, and women, clothed in stunning colors,Ⓐemendation Ⓐtextual note in the other. The floor was of big stone flags, laid in black and white squares, rather battered by age and use, and needing repair. As to ornament, there wasn’t any, strictly speaking; thoughⒶalteration in the MS on the walls hung some huge tapestries which were probably taxedⒶalteration in the MS as works of art: battle pieces, they were, with horses shaped like those which children cut out of paper or create in gingerbread; with men on them in scale armor whose scales are represented by round holes—so that the man’s coat looks as if it had been done with a biscuit-punch. There was a fire place big enough to camp in; and its projecting sides and hood, of carvedⒶalteration in the MS and pillared stone-work, had the look of a cathedral door. Along the walls stood men-at-arms, in breastplateⒶalteration in the MS and morion, with halberds for their only weapon—rigid as statues; and that is what they looked like.
In the middle of this groined and vaulted public square was an oaken table which they called the Table Round. It was as large as a circus ring; and around it sat a great company of men dressed in such various and splendid colors that it hurtⒶalteration in the MS one’s eyes to look at them. They wore their plumed hatsⒺexplanatory note, right along; except that whenever one addressed himself directly to the king, he lifted his hat a trifle just as he was beginning his remark.
Mainly they were drinking—from entire ox horns; but a few were still munching bread or gnawing beef-bonesⒶemendation. There was about an average of two dogs to one man; and these sat in expectant attitudes till a spent bone was flung to them, and then they went for it by brigades and divisions, with a rush, and there ensued a fight which filled the prospect with a tumultuousⒶalteration in the MS chaos of plunging heads and bodies and flashing tails, and the storm of howlings and barkings deafened all speech for the time; but that was no matter, for the dog-fight was always a bigger interest anyway; the men rose, sometimes, to observe it the better and bet on itⒶalteration in the MS; and the ladies and the musicians stretched themselves out over their balustersⒶalteration in the MS with the same object; and all broke into delighted ejaculations from time to time. In the end, the winning [begin page 66] dog stretched himself out comfortably with his bone between his paws, and proceeded to growl over it, and gnaw it, and grease the floor with it, just as fiftyⒶalteration in the MS others were already doing; and the restⒶalteration in the MS of the court resumed their previous industries and entertainments.
As a rule, the speech and behavior of these people were gracious and courtly; and I noticed that they were good and serious listeners when anybody was telling anything—I mean, in a dog-fightless interval.Ⓐalteration in the MS And plainly, too, they were a childlike and innocent lot; telling lies of the stateliest pattern with a most gentle and winning naivetyⒶemendation, and ready and willing to listen to anybody else’s lie, and believe it, too. It was hard to associate them with anything cruel or dreadful; and yet they dealt in tales of blood and suffering with a guileless relish that made me almost forget to shudder.
I was not the only prisoner present. There were twenty or more. Poor devils, many of them were maimed, hacked, carved, in a frightful way; and their hair, their faces, their clothing, were caked with black and stiffened drenchings of blood. They were suffering sharp physical pain, of course; and weariness, and hunger and thirst, no doubt; and at least none had given them the comfort of a wash, or even the poor charity of a lotion for their wounds; yet you never heard them utter a moan or a groan, or saw themⒶalteration in the MS show any sign ofⒶalteration in the MS restlessness, or any disposition to complain. The thought was forced upon me: “The rascals— they Ⓐalteration in the MS have served other people so, in their day;Ⓐalteration in the MS it being their ownⒶalteration in the MS turn, now,Ⓐalteration in the MS they were not expecting any better treatment than this; so their philosophical bearing is not an outcome of mental training, intellectual fortitude, reasoning; it isⒶalteration in the MS mereⒶalteration in the MS animal training; they are white Indians.”Ⓐalteration in the MS
Indians.”] followed by a paragraph added in black ink which was revised then canceled in pencil. The canceled passage is reproduced below. The superior numbers refer to Mark Twain’s revisions, which are listed following the passage.
‘This1 thought plunged me into a dream, and the burden of it was this fancy: if I could but see all of these poor people2 here present lifted up and made Presbyterians. I was born and reared a Presbyterian. I had lived in that light all my life. All that I was, I owed to it.3 To this reverie I owed the only moment of deep and serene spiritual peace I had known since these late disasters had come upon me. Figuratively, I slept this moment; then woke again to the realities about me.’
2. people] written over wiped-out ‘souls’.
3. it.] followed by canceled ‘In all essentials, indeed, but the name, Arthur’; ‘all’ follows one or two separately canceled unrecovered words.