Publisher's Synopsis
In the time of King Henry VIII, a young beggar named Tom Canty lived in London. Once, after sneaking into the royal palace, Tom found himself before the Prince of Wales. Upon verifying their great resemblance, they decided to exchange clothes and their role in life. From then on, the situation of both was reversed and the poor boy accustomed to misery was treated as a prince of royal blood, while the son of the king knew hunger, persecution and injustice.
One day Tom walked to Temple Bar, the most remote district from his home. There Tom spotted a great palace and leaned through the bars to see what he so longed to see in his dreams, a real prince playing in the garden, dressed in sumptuous clothes and elegant manners. Suddenly one of the sentries guarding the entrance went to chase the beggar away, but the prince saw what his soldier was doing, caught his attention, and let poor Tom into the palace.
The Prince of Wales fed him and asked him about his life. Tom, who answered his questions and whose answers were nothing more than the cruel reality that he lived. They ignited the indignation and anger of Eduardo, who in turn was moved to think of the freedom that his interlocutor had, the fun games he played with his friends and the happy life he led outside his home, so he suggested to Tom that They reversed roles for a day, that Tom was a prince and Eduardo was a beggar, because the resemblance, the profile, the eyes, the voice, everything, were identical.
Tom agreed and Eduardo left the palace dressed as a beggar, however, as such he was also treated by the same sentry who had attacked his friend. Eduardo, outraged, threatened the sentry of being punished by his father the king, but this only provoked the laughter and mistreatment of those present.
