Tom Sawyer was a naughty boy; he was always up to some mischief. He lived with his Aunt Polly, and brother Sid. “Tom! Where are you?” Aunt Polly shouted angrily. She had checked every corner of the house, and even the backyard, but Tom was nowhere to be seen. “Tom, come out right now! You’re in for a big trouble!” she shouted for the last time.
Aunt Polly spotted something was moving inside the kitchen cupboard; she hurriedly opened it. And there was Tom! His face was covered in blotches of red and purple jam. “You ate all the jam, didn’t you? Answer me right now,” Aunt Polly caught him by the collar. “No, I did not eat any jam. Only Sid does, I tell you,
all these things.” “Don’t lie to me. I can see it on your face.”
“Aunt, look behind you!” Tom said. His aunt looked behind for just a second. Once again, Tom tricked her and ran away. His mischiefs did not stop here. He skipped school and enjoyed his day wandering around. “What are you doing here, Tom? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” his brother Sid spotted him playing around. Tom knew Sid was a tattletale (telltale) and would tell everything to their aunt. And that’s exactly what he did!
And yet again, Aunt Polly was furious with him. As a punishment, she ordered him to paint their backyard
fence. “Oh God, this will take my entire day!” Tom opposed, but agreed to do it as he had no choice. Tom started whitewashing the fence; some of his friends passed by. “What are you doing, Tom?” one of his friends asked.
“Are you punished?” another friend enquired. Tom’s clever brain instantly came up with an idea. He pretended to enjoy what he was doing and said, “Oh this! This is art; it is so much fun.” His friends got intrigued, “Can we also try? You’re having so much fun.” “Let me think. Only if you give me your candies. And you can give me your catapult!” Tom said.
His friends readily agreed and gave away their marbles, games, books and candies to Tom. His plan had been successful. He had fooled his friends into working for him in exchange of things! “It’s Sunday today. Tom, you have to go to the church, and remember, no mischief!” Aunt Polly woke Tom up the next day. As soon as Tom entered the Bible school at the church, he saw a new pretty student sitting across the table from him. “Hi! I am Becky Thatcher. I am new in this town.”
Tom instantly decided that he wanted to be friends with her. To get Becky to like him, Tom decided to play one of his clever tricks. “Can you give me all your tickets?” Tom asked one of the smartest boys at the school. “Why do I give you all my hard-earned tickets, Tom? Go away,” he told. “I will give you all of these,” Tom showed all the candies, marbles and toys he had received from his earlier trick.
The boy readily agreed and gave away his tickets to Tom. At the Bible school, the kids earned tickets when they could successfully memorize verses from the Bible. After getting a lot of tickets, a kid could exchange them in return of a Bible. “Who has enough tickets, today?” the pope asked.
Tom raised his hand. Everyone in the room was surprised as Tom never remembered even a
single verse! “It seems as if Tom earned a free Bible. Come here, kid; collect your Bible.” Tom looked at Becky and thought he definitely had made an impression. Later at midnight, to celebrate his earlier victory, Tom sneaked out of his house. He walked across the field, to his best friend Huckleberry Finn’s house.
“Huck! Huck!! Let’s go for an adventure! I feel like having fun,” Tom said to Huck. Huck and Tom decided to call their friend Joe Harper along as well. “Let’s become pirates and go down Jackson island!” all three of them shouted in joy. “Look, I have found a raft. Now, we can float down to the island,” Tom spoke excitedly as he sprinted towards the river.
“Great! I got us some food and water,” Joe Harper chimed in. All three of them pretended to be real pirates under the night sky, and floated across the river. “Oh look, we have reached the island,” Tom announced. The three of them sprawled across, and jumped in joy. They ate, drank and swam. “It is such a fun night,” Huck declared.
Tom suddenly noticed something. He told, “Huck! Joe! Do you hear those voices?” The three of them
tried to listen to the noise carefully. “It seems like they are looking for someone who has got drowned,” Tom spoke. “Look, there’s a boat!” Joe Harper said pointing out at the far end of the river. “I think they are looking for us,” Huck informed.
The three of them got awfully frightened, and suddenly felt homesick. “My mom will be worried,” Joe said. “My Aunt Polly too must be looking for me everywhere,” Tom said. “I want to go back home,” Huck spoke. The three friends decided that they would let Tom go to the town to see what was happening.
As soon as the sun rose next day, Tom went back to his town. He saw Aunt Polly and other adults talking. Joe Harper’s mom was sobbing. “Oh Tom, maybe I shouldn’t have scolded him as much,” Aunt Polly too started sobbing. ‘They think we have got drowned!’ Tom could finally comprehend. Tom went back and informed Joe and Huck about what he had seen.
“I feel so guilty, Tom. I think we should go back right now,” Huck said. “No! It is not the appropriate time. I have a plan,” Tom explained to his friends. “I know that you want to walk into the church at your own funeral,” asked Joe Harper. Tom smiled, “Yes, it is.”
The following day, the three friends rafted back to their town, and entered the church. Everyone looked at them dumbfounded, and ran towards the boys. “They are alive. None has got drowned,” the church came alive with loud chatter. Everyone was happy and jolly once again.
