A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

1. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). 320 pgs.
   Originally published 1889 by Charles L. Webster & Co., NY. My edition: ©1963, The New American Library of World Literature, Inc.
2. I found this book sitting on a shelf in my house.
3. This story takes place in the early 6^th Century, during the Middle Ages.
4. There were no historical persons in this book,
5. but there were the legendary King Arthur of Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and Merlin the magician.
6. An expression peculiar to this time period is "go to," meaning "I like that" or "I should smile."
7. No, I did not use any other books to verify facts in the story.
8. I found the theme of this story most valuable.
9. The incident I would most likely tell to other people is the part when Hank Morgan, the main character, and King Arthur go around the kingdom disguised as peasants. Arthur forgot to get off the road for some knights on horsebak, and they nearly trampled him. Arthur yelled at them, and they started to charge him. Morgan ran past them and yelled at them to get them away from Arthur. They turned around and charged Morgan, and when they neared him, he threw a dynamite bomb. And to quote the book, "It resembled a steamboat explosion on the Mississippi; and during the next fifteen minutes we stood under a steady drizzle of microscopic fragments of knights and hardware and horseflesh."
10. This book helped me to see how the common people of the Middle Ages lived, not just the important people found in a history book.
11. The book starts when the main character, Hank Morgan, is in 19^th Century America, in his factory, and an angry worker hits him on the head with a crowbar. Morgan awakens to find himself in Camelot in the 6^th Century. He is taken to King Arthur's Court by Sir Kay, who makes up a story of Morgan's capture. Morgan is to be executed, but since he knows there will be an eclipse the next day, he says he is a great magician and will blot out the sun if he is killed. Hi isn't believed, though, until he is tied to the stake and the eclipse starts. The king begs him to bring the sun back, offering him the second most important office in the kingdom, with the title "The Boss." Morgan accepts, this bought enough time for the eclipse to end. Morgan puts down Merlin publically, and destroys his tower in a spectular "miracle." Morgan and a boy he becomes friends with, Clarence, secretly set up factories and such, and have a school for training men. Morgan also has telephone and telegraph lines set up, layed on the ground instead of on poles so as not to draw as much attention. Morgan has his own West Point set up to give men military training. After a while, a lady wandered to the castle with a story of another castle in which 45 princesses were trapped by 3 ogres. Although he doesn't want to go to save the princesses, as he thought it was just a story and nothing else, Arthur gave it to Morgan. So he went with the woman, her name was Alisande, he called her Sandy. After wandering far and wide, they came upon the castle, which turned out to be a pig sty, although Sandy saw it as a castle. On the way back to Camelot, they stop at the Valley of Holiness, where Morgan performs a miracle to bring water back to a well. King Arthur visits the valley, and he and Morgan decide to travel the kingdom incognito, disguised as peasants. However, while travelling they get into trouble, and are sold to a slave trader. This really upsets the king. The group of slaves stop in London, where Morgan manages to get free and summon for help from the King's castle. When they return home, it is announced that there will be a combat between Morgan and Sir Sagramor. Morgan comes with a lasso, and pulls Sagramor off his horse, and does the same to other challengers. But during a lull in the action, Merlin steals the lasso. Sagramor challenges him again, and as he charges Morgan, Morgan pulls out a revolver and shoots him. Morgan challenges all the other knights, and luckily for him, they gave up before he ran out of bullets. After his victory, he revealed all the factories and things he had set up. For 3 years, things seemed to be going fine, but then there was a revolt. Morgan, Clarence, and 52 boys that Clarence had gathered had to defend themselves against 30,000 knights. They used an old cave of Merlin's, surrounded it with land mines, an electric fence, and gatling guns. During the night the knights were killed, and the next day Morgan went out looking for wounded men. He found one, and was stabbed. Clarence took him back to the cave, and an old woman showed up and offered to help. The next day the woman revealed "herself" as Merlin, and revealed that he had put Morgan to sleep for 13 centuries. He started laughing, and fell against the electric fence. He died with a delirious laugh on his face, and his face stayed that way. Then the story switches back to the 19^th Century, with Twain with Morgan who is in bed. Morgan is hallucinating and finally dies.
12. I liked this book, it showed that you can change a man on the outside, such as his ideas, customs, etc, but you can't change what he really is (his feelings).