A mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lived with his Aunt Polly and his cousin, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri.
“Where is that boy now?” said Aunt Polly, in irritation, “Tom! Tom!! Where are you hiding? Tom!”
Tom never answered when he was called, and his aunt was always running about looking for him. When Tom entered, his aunt looked at him and said, “There you are! Where do you think you are going?”
Aunt Polly suddenly noticed the traces of jam around Tom’s lips. She said, “Tom, you naughty boy, I told you not to eat the jam!”
“I didn’t…it wasn’t me!” replied Tom. “Really? What’s that around your mouth then?” stated Aunt Polly, “Lying is a sin, Tom! I will have to punish you for this!”
“Hey! Look behind you!” said Tom and ran he away.
Aunt Polly was glad that Tom grew up so cheerful and carefree without his parents. But she decided to make him do some chores as punishment on Saturday. So, Tom’s aunt made him paint the fence as a punishment for missing school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight.
‘But I can’t…what about the marble competition, and swimming in the stream, and playing war…,’ thought Tom with some gleam in his eyes.
But Tom did not paint for long. He had a plan to get himself out of the annoying task. He took up his brush and calmly began his work. Soon, Ben Rogers came tripping along; he uttered, “Hey, Tom! Are you being punished again?” Tom paid no attention and went on whitewashing. After a while Tom said, “I am sorry; I was so deeply absorbed in my work. I didn’t hear you.”
“Is it interesting?” stated Ben.
“It is filled with hidden excitement that you are not old enough to appreciate,” said Tom, “I am making art. How many boys do you see out painting fences?”
Tom’s argument made Ben think. At last he said, “Tom, let me do the whitewashing for some time.” But Tom asked Ben to pay for whitewashing. Ben agreed. Tom gave Ben his brush. While Ben worked and sweated in the sun, Tom sat on a barrel in the shade.
The other children gave Tom marbles and toys and he let them paint the fence. The work was done in no time, because everyone wanted to have a try. ‘I’m a genius!’ thought Tom, smiling to himself.
“Look, aunt! I have painted the entire fence! Can I go to play now?” he uttered.
“What? So fast! You’re not lying to me again, are you?”
“No, come and see. It’s all painted,” Tom said.
Aunt Polly could not believe and went out to see for herself. But when she saw the fence painted, her astonishment was unspeakable. “Well, go along and play,” she told him, “but mind you; get back in time or you’ll get a beating.”
One day, Tom, his friend Huckleberry Finn and Joe who used to be an enemy but had become a friend, all got together. They came up with a plan to have some adventure. “Let’s be pirates!” said Tom. They all thought it was a great idea.
Huck lived all alone with no parents or guardians. Joe was angry with his mother for unfairly punishing him for stealing some cream. “My mother doesn’t appreciate me; I need to get away!”
“I don’t want to get up early in the morning and go to school anymore,” said Tom.
“Well, I’ve got no one to run away from, but I just want to play pirates with you!” said Huck.
The three boys made a pact to be pirates together, and sneaked out in the middle of the night to cross the river on a raft. They found an uninhabited island. The boys yelled and ran around as much as they wanted. They went to bed only when they were tired, woke when they wanted to, and caught some fish in the river when they felt hungry. They were having such an amazing time that they didn’t even realize that their raft had been carried away by the fast current of water.
Suddenly, they heard a sound. It was a small steamboat that was sailing around the river, firing off cannon balls. After a while, it turned and sailed away from the island. The boys thought that the steamboat was looking for them. They were very excited at the thought that the entire village was looking for them. They would be heroes now! Tom and his friends wanted to go back right away, but they couldn’t leave without the raft. They decided to send Tom ahead to the village, as he was the best swimmer.
When Tom approached the village, he saw Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary, and Joe Harper’s mother sitting together, talking. “But as I said,” Aunt Polly was saying, “he wasn’t bad, only mischievous. He never meant any harm, and he had a heart of gold,” and she began to cry, “and now we’ll never see those boys again!”
Tom hurried back to the island and told his friends all about what he had heard. They all decided to go back. On Sunday, all villagers gathered at the Church to mourn the lost boys. Everyone was touched by the tragedy. A moment later, the church door creaked open and the three boys entered. Everyone was happy to see them back home, safe and sound. Tom knew that he would be punished later for running away, but that night he went to bed dreaming of new adventures!
