Of Magic Lamps and Genies By Mark Twain
-Watch this Video for detailed Explanation-
Of Magic Lamps and Genies is an extract adapted from Mark Twain's masterpiece, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. This novel was first published in the year 1885 and is often called 'The Great American Novel'. It is also said that all modern American literature comes from this novel. The novel shows the adventures of Huck Finn and his chum, Tom Sawyer. Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which provides him with the setting of this novel. The Mississippi river, which flows next to the town, also plays an important role in the book.
- READ THIS CHAPTER -
- CHARACTERS -
# Tom Sawyer - He was a proficient liar who had excellence in transporting others to his make believe world and believe his fantastic tales of imagination. He had resourcefulness, a fertile imagination, intelligence, creative ability, and a keen observation that made him a proficient liar.
# Huckleberry Finn - He was a believer as he believed in Tom's Story and attacked the children on his order. He was also a greedy person as he had tried to rub the lamp with iron ring so that he could ask the genie to build a palace which he could sell and make money.
- SHORT SUMMARY -
Tom, Huck and their gang pretended to rob and kill people for fun by hopping out of the woods and charging down at people. Tom called the turnip "Jewellery" and corns "gold bricks". One day, Tom suggested that they had received a secret news that a whole troop of Spanish merchants and rich Arabs was going to Camp in Cave hollow with two hundred Elephants, six hundred Camels and over a thousand mules, all loaded with diamonds, and they had only four hundred soldiers as guard. So he asked his gang to take up arms to attack the lot and scoop the things.
Next Day, They were ready for attack with their swords (laths and broomsticks), lying in the ambush waiting for the signal to attack. When they rushed out of the woods to attack, there were no camels and no Arabs. It wasn't anything but a Sunday school picnic of primary class students. They attacked the children but got nothing except some doughnuts and jam. Ben Rogers got a rag doll and Joe Harper got a hymn book.
Huck confronts Tom directly on not finding anything as he had told them about. But, Tom counters that "there were loads of them". When Huck asked Tom why couldn't they see the Arabs and elephants, Tom replied that it was all done by enchantment and our enemies (magicians) turned everything into a school picnic. Then Huck proposed to go after the magicians, But Tom rebuked (sharp disapproved) him and called him a numskull (a stupid person). He said "a magician could call up a lot of genies, and they would hash you up like nothing. They were as tall as a tree and as big around as a church."
Then Huck asked " how they got them?"
To him Tom replied - On rubbing tin lamp or an iron ring, the genies come tearing in, with thunder and lightening ripping around the smoke rolling, and everything they are told to do, they are up and do it. They don't think twice before pulling a tree up by the roots or harming anyone.
Then Huck asked "Who makes them tear around?"
Tom replied - They belongs to those who rubs the lamp and they obey his orders. If he tells them to build a palace forty miles long out of diamonds, and fill it with a chewing gum or fetch the emperor's daughter from china to marry, they have got to do it and all this should be done before the sunrise next morning.
Huck thought about it for a couple of days and then he tried his hands at an old tin and rubbed it with an iron ring till he sweated, making castles in the air about building a palace, how he would sell it and become rich. But it was not any use as non of the genies appeared. Then he comes to know that all the stuff that was told by Tom was only one of Tom Sawyer's Lies.
- WORD MEANINGS -
- Invented - To Create Something New
- Pretended - Profess falsely
- Powwow - Talk about
- Scoured - Searched
- Laths - wooden stick
- Broomstick - Brush with long handle
- Hymn Book - Religious song book
- Numskull - A stupid person
- Pinhead - An idiot
- Proficient liar - Skill of manipulating someone
- QUESTION /ANSWERS -
Q. Which game did Huck and his friends invent?
Q. What was the blazing stick for?
Q. What did Huck find instead of Spaniards and Arabs?
Q. What happened at the Sunday-school picnic?
Q. What reason did Tom give Huck for not being able to see the diamonds?
Q. What did Huck do to see if Tom was telling the truth? What did he find?
Q. What happens when the Genies come tearing in?
Q. Who makes them tear around?
Q. Tom was a proficient liar. Do you think it takes a lot of imagination to be a good liar?
- ANSWERS -
- SELF EVALUATION TEST -
This is a quiz based test which is consist of 20 Multiple Choice Questions to test your Understanding about this Chapter...
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