The Prince and the Pauper Chapter 5 Summary

Tom is a Patrician

  • Meanwhile, back at the palace, Tom Canty is having a lot of fun playing prince. He looks at his awesome threads, draws his sword, and plays with some jewels, but then he gets bored.
  • Tom's not just bored: he's worried. What if somebody comes in and exposes him as an impostor? He'll be killed, right?
  • Tom runs out of the room to find someone who can help him, but he's greeted with noble customs he doesn't understand. Tom tries to tell everyone he meets that he's not really the prince, but everyone just thinks that he's gone crazy.
  • Finally, they take Tom to meet the man himself. That would be Henry VIII, folks.
  • King Henry's not nearly as scary as we expected him to be, what with all those beheadings to his name. He actually seems like a genuinely concerned father.
  • King Henry doesn't get that he's talking to Tom Canty, and not to his son, so he's pretty bummed out about his apparent mental illness.
  • Tom doesn't even get it and just keeps pleading for his life. In the end, the king decides that he's been pushing the prince too hard, and that's what's caused this nervous breakdown. So no one is supposed to even mention it.
  • Fortunately or unfortunately for Tom, that means that he gets to be the prince now—and all that entails. Looks like he's going to be locked up in this gold-encrusted jail for a long time.