Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
Tom Sawyer
The story of the most inventive boy on the Mississippi
Also in: Tom Sawyer (Slovenian) · Tom Sawyer (Slovak)
Tom Sawyer lived with his aunt Polly in a little town beside the great Mississippi River. On Saturday morning, when every other boy was running loose outdoors, his aunt put a brush and a bucket of whitewash into his hands. "The fence, Tom. All thirty yards of it." Tom looked at board after board, and life suddenly seemed hollow and sad.
1
Before long Ben Rogers came by, munching an apple. "Ha! You've got to work!" Tom drew his brush slowly along, stepped back and squinted at it thoughtfully. "Work? This isn't work. Do you suppose a boy gets a chance to whitewash a fence every day?" Ben stopped munching his apple. He watched. And went on watching.
2
"Come on, Tom, let me try just a little!" — "I don't know, Ben. Aunt Polly is mighty particular about this fence." Ben offered the apple too. With a deep sigh, Tom handed over the brush. By afternoon the fence had three coats, and Tom sat in the shade rich as a king: twelve marbles, a piece of blue bottle glass, a key that unlocked nothing, and a dead rat on a string.
3
At the house next door Tom saw a girl with golden braids. He forgot the whole world at once. He walked on his hands, turned cartwheels, threw pebbles over the fence and pretended not to see her at all. Becky Thatcher watched from under her straw bonnet, smiled, and tossed a pansy over to him. Tom picked it up as if it were made of gold.
4
On Sunday the church was hot and the sermon as long as summer. Beside Tom sat his half-brother Sid, straight as a candle. Tom let a big black beetle out of its box. A stray poodle came trotting past and sniffed at it — and the beetle nipped his nose! The poodle howled, ran along the pews and sailed out of the window. The whole church shook with swallowed laughter.
5
Home felt too small for Tom. At midnight he and Joe Harper and Huck Finn pushed off on a raft for an island in the middle of the Mississippi. "Now we're pirates!" They roasted fish over the fire, walked barefoot in the sand, and nobody told them when to go to bed. That first day was the finest day of their lives.
6
On the second night a storm broke over the island. Lightning lit the trees white as noon, rain drummed on the leaves, the wind carried off their blanket sail. The boys pressed together under an old oak and said nothing. Every one of them thought the same thing: of a warm bed, and whether anybody at home was crying.
7
That night Tom swam quietly across the river and crept home. Under the window he heard aunt Polly saying between sobs: "He was mischievous, but never wicked." And then: on Sunday there would be a funeral at the church — for all three drowned boys. Tom's eyes filled up. And then a perfectly wild idea took root in his head.
8
On Sunday the church was full. The bell tolled sadly, people wiped their eyes, the minister told how good those three boys had been. Just then the doors opened and up the middle aisle marched Tom, Joe and Huck — alive and sunburnt. There was an uproar, and aunt Polly hugged Tom tight. It was the most glorious moment of his life.
9
In summer the children went on a picnic and into the great cave under the hill. Tom and Becky strayed off along side passages in the dark — and suddenly the candle showed nothing they knew. "Tom, we're lost." Tom took her hand. "Don't worry. We just have to look slowly." They sat down by the wall and shared the last piece of cake.
10
Tom pulled a long kite line out of his pocket. He tied one end to a rock, then crawled down one passage after another as far as the line would reach, and came back each time. On the third try he saw a tiny bright speck. He crept closer — and there, far below, the river was shining in the sun. He had found the way out.
11
A few days later Tom went back into the cave — this time with Huck, a rope and a light. Behind a fallen rock they found an old wooden chest. Huck pushed back the lid. Gold flashed inside — more coins than they had ever seen. Twelve thousand dollars. They carried it home in two flour sacks.
12
After that Tom and Huck were famous in the town. Everybody pointed them out, and every dollar of theirs was counted at the bank. But that morning, out in the yard, Tom still traded his loose tooth to Huck for a fine black beetle in a little box — and he was well satisfied. Some things are worth more than gold.
13The End
