The Prince and the Pauper Chapter 15 Summary

Tom as King

  • The next day is day three of Tom's kingship.
  • Being a king is kind of boring, but Tom is getting more comfortable living in the royal palace. It's not nearly as frightening and weird as it used to be.
  • The only thing Tom's worried about is the banquet he'll have to attend tomorrow.
  • Meanwhile, when Tom is looking out the window, he notices a ruckus outside. Being the king and wanting to know what's going on, he commands that the man, woman, and young girl who were going to be executed be brought to him.
  • Turns out this king thing isn't too bad, after all.
  • The guy is accused of poisoning someone. When he meets Tom, he doesn't beg for his life, he just begs to be hanged. You know why? Because he was sentenced to be boiled alive.
  • Of course, there is no evidence that he actually poisoned that dude; he was convicted on the basis of some witch's prophecy. Yeah, that'll do it. We guess.
  • The guy is pardoned when Tom remembers seeing him save a boy from drowning, and everyone in the room is impressed by how reasonable his judgment was. No one thinks he's crazy anymore.
  • On to the girl and her mom. They are accused of selling themselves to the devil. Of course, there are no witnesses, and they haven't confessed, but it's totally certain that they did. You know why? Because there was a huge storm that destroyed their village.
  • It destroyed their house, too, so Tom is a little suspicious. After all, what kind of witches worth their salt would destroy their own house while trying to kill others?
  • Never mind that somehow a nine-year-old child has sold her soul to the devil. We'd like to see that contract.
  • So Tom decides to test these "witches." He says that the mom can go free if she takes off her stockings and makes a small storm appear. When she doesn't, and she begs for the life of her child, Tom knows she's innocent. If she could have made a storm appear, she would have, just so that her daughter wouldn't die.
  • So Tom pardons the mom. But he's still a kid, so he wants to have some fun. He asks the woman to try her best to make an earthquake happen, and she does. But no cigar. Oh well, there's always next time.