Твен М. Принц и нищий

In his first foray into historical prose, The Prince and the Pauper (1877 1880, published 1881), the American writer Mark Twain skillfully interweaves the old literary motif of entangled twins (memorable to everyone from The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night Shakespeare) into the outline of English history of the 16th century. On the same day in London, two boys are born, similar to each other as two drops of water: in the royal palace, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, the future King of England Edward VI, whose birth is celebrated by the whole country, is born, and in the miserable shack of the Court Dregs, beyond Gluttonous Row, is the son of a thief and a beggar woman, Tom Canty, in whose family no one is happy about the addition. A few years later, by chance, they temporarily change places, and soon the little beggar, due to the death of the old king, has a unique opportunity to rule the whole state, and the young prince receives lesson after lesson from his poorest subjects