Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Contents
CHAPTER XXIII
Overview
The duke and king’s "Royal Nonesuch" cons the town over three nights, then they escape with $465 before the enraged audience can strike back. Afterward, Huck’s comic misconceptions about kings contrast with Jim’s painful story about his deaf daughter, deepening Jim’s humanity and underscoring the moral rot of the impostor "royals."
Summary
All day the duke and the king prepare a stage for their new attraction. That night the king bursts onstage naked and painted, cavorting to uproarious laughter. When the crowd realizes the show is over, a big townsman convinces them to keep quiet and lure the rest of the town so all share the shame.
The second night repeats the swindle with another packed house. Afterward, the con men have Huck and Jim float the raft downstream to hide, planning for a hostile reception on the third night.
On night three, armed townsmen arrive with rotten produce and dead cats. The duke hustles Huck away, and they sprint to the raft. The king, who never risked going ashore, emerges as they escape in darkness. Safely downstream, the pair gloat over the trick, tallying $465 from three nights.
Later, Huck and Jim talk. Huck declares that kings are mostly scoundrels and rattles off a wildly inaccurate history to prove it, deciding there’s little difference between their “royals” and the real kind.
Near dawn, Jim grows homesick and mourns his family. He confesses striking his young daughter Elizabeth before discovering she had become deaf after illness, a memory that fills him with lasting remorse and reveals his deep compassion.
Who Appears
- Huckleberry FinnNarrator; helps the duke at the door, flees to the raft, debates kings with Jim, listens to Jim’s sorrow.
- The DukeMasterminds the Royal Nonesuch scam, orchestrates the escape on the third night, boasts over the $465 haul.
- The KingPerforms naked and painted to dupe the crowd; hides during the third night; laughs over the successful con.
- JimHelps move the raft; questions the con men; shares grief over his family and his deaf daughter Elizabeth.
- Big townsman (the "judge")Rallies the first-night crowd to keep quiet and lure others, enabling the con to run two more nights.