Huckleberry Finn Chapter 20

The King and the Duke wonder what Huck is doing with a black man, and they ask if he is a runaway slave. Huck makes up a story about Jim being his slave from back in Missouri. He says that he had a Pa and a brother, but they fell off of the raft when a steamboat crashed into it, and they never came up out of the water.

It starts to look like a big storm is approaching. The rain and the lightening pick up. The King and the Duke take Jim and Huck's beds and Huck and Jim are left outside in the rain to keep watch over the raft. Huck loves the storm and can't get enough of it.

Topic Tracking: Picaresque 6

The Duke comes up with a plan to make some money. Being knowledgeable in the theater, he says that he's going to teach the King all about Romeo and Juliet, and Richard III. They will do a reenactment and charge people for the show. The Duke will be Romeo and the King will be Juliet. The Duke will be Richard III and the King will be Richmond. He explains a little bit of the plays to the King.

The Duke comes up with a plan so that they can travel with Jim during the day. The Duke, the King, and Huck stop at a town and look for a printing office. A slave tells them that everyone in the town is gone to a town meeting in the woods. They find the printing office, but no one is around. The Duke stays and the King and Huck go off to the meeting. At the meeting, they see preachers preaching about sin to a big crowd of people. They all scream and shout "amen!" The King gets up there and tells the town of Pokeville that he is an ex-pirate of the Indian Ocean who found his true path; he is going to dedicate his life to converting other pirates to this true path of life. Everyone cries for him and he ends up collecting $87.75 and a jug of whisky. Later, the King and Huck meet up with the Duke who has made $9.50 from doing printing jobs. He also printed out a sign that had a picture of a runaway slave on it with a reward under it for $200. Now, they can travel during the day, and if anyone asks them what they're doing with a slave, they can show them the picture and say they are going to collect the reward money.

The King and the Duke are drunk and Jim tries to get the King to speak French so he can hear what it sounds like.