Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Contents
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Overview
Tom escalates the rescue’s theatrics: Jim must craft pens, a saw, a coat of arms, and mournful inscriptions carved into a grindstone they steal and haul in. Tom further demands prison “pets,” rats and snakes, music on a jews-harp, and a tear-watered plant. Jim balks but yields; the boys press on.
Summary
Huck and Jim labor over makeshift pens and a saw, while Tom insists Jim must leave the traditional prisoner’s marks: a coat of arms and a mournful inscription. Tom invents an elaborate heraldic design and composes several sorrowful epitaphs, deciding Jim should carve them all.
Realizing log walls won’t suit, Tom decrees the writing must be cut into stone. He proposes using a large grindstone from the mill so they can also sharpen tools. Huck and Tom struggle to roll it, then fetch Jim, who slips his chain and helps move it. Jim enlarges the hole to bring the stone inside, and Tom sets him to carving by candlelight, hiding the grindstone under the straw tick afterward.
Tom then demands prison “pets.” He proposes a rattlesnake, arguing it can be tamed, but Jim refuses firmly, so Tom settles for garter snakes. Tom also insists on rats, saying Jim must charm them with jews-harp music, and outlines how playing will draw vermin to him.
Pushing the pageant further, Tom requires Jim to raise a prison flower, renaming mullen “Pitchiola,” and says it must be watered with tears. When Jim says he rarely cries, Tom plans to slip an onion into Jim’s coffee to produce tears.
Overwhelmed by the chores—tools, inscriptions, journals, vermin, music, and plants—Jim complains that being a prisoner is too much trouble. Tom rebukes him for not appreciating the “glory.” Jim apologizes, and Huck and Tom finally retire, resolved to continue the theatrics.
Who Appears
- Tom SawyerMasterminds an elaborate, theatrical prison-break plan; dictates coats of arms, inscriptions, pets, music, and a tear-watered plant.
- JimPrisoner compelled to carve a grindstone, keep vermin “pets,” play music, and raise a plant; protests but ultimately agrees.
- Huckleberry FinnNarrator; assists stealing and moving the grindstone, helps Jim with tools, and follows Tom’s complex plans.