The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
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. but the creditors came forward now, and complained that inasmuch as through an error for_which they were in no way to blame the false heir was not inventoried at_the_time with_the rest of_the property, great wrong and loss had thereby been inflicted upon them . they rightly claimed that "Tom" was lawfully their property and had_been so for eight years; that_they had already lost sufficiently in being deprived of_his services during that long period, and ought not to_be required to add anything to_that loss; that if he had_been delivered up to_them in_the first place, they_would_have sold him and he_could_not have murdered judge Driscoll; therefore it_was not that he had really committed the murder, the guilt lay with_the erroneous inventory . everybody saw that there_was reason in_this . everybody granted that if "Tom" were white and free it would_be unquestionably right to punish him-- it would_be no loss to anybody; but to shut up a valuable slave for life-- that was quite another matter .

as_soon_as_the governor understood the case, he pardoned Tom at once, and_the creditors sold him down the river .

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author's note to_those extraordinary TWINS

a man who_is_not born with_the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time of it when he tries to build a novel . I_know this from experience . he has no clear idea of_his story; in_fact he has no story . he merely has some people in_his mind, and an incident or two, also a locality, and he trusts he_can plunge those people into those incidents with interesting results . so he goes to work . to write a novel ? no-- that_is a thought which comes later; in_the beginning he_is only proposing to_tell a little tale, a very little tale, asix- page tale . but as_it_is a tale which he_is_not acquainted with, and can only find out what it_is by listening as it goes along telling itself, it_is more than apt to_go on and on and on till it spreads itself into a book . I_know about_this, because it has happened to_me so_many_times .

and I_have noticed another thing: that as_the short tale grows into_the long tale, the original intention ( or motif) is apt to_get abolished and find itself superseded by a quite different one . it_was so in_the case of a magazine sketch which I once started to write--a funny and fantastic sketch about a prince an a pauper; it presently assumed a grave cast of_its own accord, and in_that new shape spread itself out into a book . much the same thing happened with PUDD'NHEAD Wilson .I had asufficiently hard time with_that tale, because it changed itself from a farce to a tragedy while i_was going along with it--a most embarrassing circumstance . but what_was a great deal worse was, that_it_was not one story, but two stories tangled together; and_they obstructed and interrupted each_other at every turn and created no end of confusion and annoyance . I_could_not offer the book for publication, for i_was afraid it would unseat the reader's reason, I_did_not know what_was the matter with it, for I had_not noticed, as_yet, that_it_was two stories in one . it took me months to_make that discovery .I carried the manuscript back and forth across the Atlantic two_or_three times, and read it and studied over it on shipboard; and at last I_saw where the difficulty lay .I had no further trouble .I pulled one_of_the stories out by_the roots, and left the other--a kind of literary Caesarean operation .

would the reader care to_know something about_the story which I pulled out ? he has_been told many a time how the born- and- trained novelist works; won't he let me round and complete his knowledge by telling him how the jackleg does it ?

originally the story was called those extraordinary TWINS .I meant to_make it very short .I had seen a picture of a youthful Italian " freak"-- or "freaks"-- which_was-- or which were-- on exhibition in_our cities--a combination consisting of two heads and four arms joined to a single body and a single pair of legs-- and i_thought i_would write an extravagantly fantastic little story with_this freak of nature for hero-- or heroes-- a silly young miss for heroine, and two old ladies and two boys for_the minor parts .I lavishly elaborated these people and their doings, of_course . but the take kept spreading along and spreading along, and other people got to intruding themselves and taking up more and more room with their talk and their affairs . among them came a stranger named Pudd'nhead Wilson, and woman named Roxana; and presently the doings of_these two pushed up into prominence a young fellow named Tom Driscoll, whose proper place was away in_the obscure background . before_the book was half finished those three were taking things almost entirely into their own hands and working the whole tale as a private venture of_their own--a tale which they had nothing at all to_do with, by rights .

when_the book was finished and I_came to look around to_see what had become of_the team I had originally started out with-- aunt Patsy Cooper, aunt Betsy hale, and two boys, and Rowena the lightweight heroine-- they were nowhere to_be seen; they had disappeared from_the story some_time or other .I hunted about and found them-- found them stranded, idle, forgotten, and permanently useless . it_was very awkward . it_was awkward all around, but more particularly in_the case of Rowena, because there_was a love match on, between her and one_of_the twins that constituted the freak, and I had worked it up_to ablistering heat and thrown in a quite dramatic love quarrel, wherein Rowena scathingly denounced her betrothed for getting drunk, and scoffed at his explanation of how it had happened, and wouldn't listen to_it, and had driven him from her in_the usual " forever" way; and now here she sat crying and brokenhearted; for she had found that he had spoken only the truth; that_is was not he, but the other of_the freak that had drunk the liquor that made him drunk; that her half was a prohibitionist and had never drunk a drop in_his life, and altogether tight as a brick three days in_the week, was wholly innocent of blame; and indeed, when sober, was constantly doing all he_could to reform his brother, the other half, who never got any satisfaction out of drinking, anyway, because liquor never affected him . yes, here she was, stranded with_that deep injustice of hers torturing her poor torn heart .

I didn't know what to_do with her . i_was as sorry for her as anybody could_be, but the campaign was over, the book was finished, she was sidetracked, and there_was no possible way of crowding her in, anywhere . I_could_not leave her there, of_course; it would_not do . after spreading her out so, and making such a to- do over her affairs, it would_be absolutely necessary to account to_the reader for her . i_thought and thought and studied and studied; but I arrived at nothing .I finally saw plainly that there_was really no way but one-- I_must simply give her the grand bounce . it grieved me to_do_it, for after associating with her so_much I had come to kind of like her after a fashion, notwithstanding things and was so nauseatingly sentimental . still it had to_be_done . so at_the top of chapter XVII I put a" calendar" remark concerning July the fourth, and began the chapter with_this statistic:

" Rowena went out in_the backyard after supper to_see the fireworks and fell down the well and got drowned ."

it seemed abrupt, but i_thought maybe the reader wouldn't notice it, because I changed the subject right away to something else . anyway it loosened up Rowena from where she was stuck and got her out_of_the way, and_that was_the main thing . it seemed a prompt good way of weeding out people that had got stalled, and a plenty good enough way for_those others; so I hunted up the two boys and said, " they went out back one night to stone the cat and fell down the well and got drowned ." next I searched around and found old aunt Patsy and aunt Betsy hale where they were around, and said, " they went out back one night to visit the sick and fell down the well and got drowned ." i_was going to drown some others, but I_gave up the idea, partly because I believed that if I kept that up it would arose attention, and perhaps sympathy with those people, and partly because it_was not a large well and would_not hold any more anyway .

still the story was unsatisfactory . here was a set of new characters who were become inordinately prominent and who persisted in remaining so to_the end; and back yonder was an older set who_made a large noise and a great to- do for a little while and then suddenly played out utterly and fell down the well . there_was a radical defect somewhere, and I_must search it out and cure it .

the defect turned out to_be the one already spoken of-- two stories in one, a farce and a tragedy . so I pulled out the farce and left the tragedy . this left the original team in, but only as mere names, not as characters . their prominence was wholly gone; they were_not even worth drowning; so I removed that detail . also i_took the twins apart and made two separate men of_them . they had no occasion to_have foreign names now, but it_was too_much trouble to remove them all through, so I left them christened as_they were and made no explanation .

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