Chapter i

Aunt Polly searches for her mischievous nephew Tom Sawyer all over the house and catches him when the boy tries to sneak past. From Tom’s soiled hands and mouth, Aunt Polly finds that his nephew has been in the pantry and has encroached on the jam supplies. Punishment seems inevitable, but the boy points to something behind the aunt, she turns around, and Tom jumps out into the street.

Aunt Polly cannot be angry for a long time at her nephew, because he is an orphan, the son of her late sister. She is only afraid that she is not strict enough with the boy, and from that an unworthy person will grow. Reluctantly, Aunt Polly decides to punish Tom.

It’s a pity to make the boy work when all the children have a holiday, but it’s harder for him to work, and I have to fulfill my duty - otherwise I will ruin the child.

That day Tom skips school and has a great day swimming in Mississippi, on the banks of which stands the boy’s hometown, St. Petersburg, Missouri. Trying to prevent this, Aunt Polly sewed up the collar of Tom's shirt so that he could not take it off. Tom tried to outwit his aunt by sewing up the collar again, but his stepbrother and, to the point of disgust, exemplary brother Sid notices the trick - Tom used a different color of thread.

The boy again faces the punishment with rods, but again he manages to escape. Late in the night, he disappears on the street, manages to defeat in an honest battle an unfamiliar, smartly dressed boy. Tom comes home late. Waiting for his aunt Polly sees the miserable condition of his nephew’s clothes, and finally decides to make him work all Saturday.

Chapter II-III

On Saturday morning, Aunt Polly makes Tom whitewash the fence, but the boy manages to turn this boring work into a very profitable event. He pretends that whitewashing the fence is the most interesting activity in the world. Familiar boys are bought for this trick and begin to pay Tom a rare pleasure to work a little with a brush.

Tom soon becomes the richest boy in town. In addition to glass balls and other necessary things, he receives a dead rat and a one-eyed kitten.

He discovered the great law governing human actions, namely: in order for a boy or adult to want something, you need only one thing - that this was not easy to achieve.

The amazed aunt Polly sets Tom free. For the rest of the day, the boy plays with his bosom friend Joe Harper. Returning home, Tom sees a girl of marvelous beauty in the garden of one of the houses and instantly falls in love with her.

In the evening, Sid begins to steal pieces of sugar from the sugar bowl and breaks it, but falls into it for Tom. He completely surrenders to his resentment and is not even happy with his sister Mary, who lives in the village and only comes home for the weekend.

Chapter iv-v

Sunday is coming. Mary washes Tom, makes him put on a tight suit, shoes and sends to Sunday school. Arriving at school a little earlier, Tom exchanges tickets for the children, which can be obtained in two learned Bible verses. A student who has learned two thousand verses is solemnly presented with a Bible.

Tom was not obsessed with spiritual thirst so much as to aspire to this award, but there is nothing to doubt that he, with all his being, longed for the glory and brilliance that were acquired with her.

On this day, distinguished guests are present at the lesson - Thatcher's lawyer, accompanied by his brother, a real district judge, and his family. In the daughter of a lawyer, Tom finds out his new love. The boy presents the amazed teacher tickets, entitling the Bible. The teacher feels a catch, but he can’t refuse, and Tom is at the top of his fame.

Chapter VI-VII

On Monday, Tom is so reluctant to go to school that he is trying to pretend to be terminally ill.Aunt Polly quickly exposes her nephew, pulls out a staggering tooth and sends her to school. A hole in the row of teeth makes Tom an object of universal envy.

Before class, Tom meets the “young pariah Huckleberry Finn” son of a local drunkard. City moms hate Huck, and the boys envy him.

He had neither to wash, nor to put on everything clean; and curse too he was a master. In a word, this rascal had everything that adds value to life.

Huck has a dead cat in his hands, with the help of which he is going to reduce the wart. To do this, according to local legend, you need to come to the cemetery at midnight, find a fresh grave of the criminal, wait until the devils appear behind his soul, and throw the cat after them, saying magic words. Tom persuades Huck to take him with him.

The teacher punishes Tom for being late and communicating with Huck - he takes him to the girls, where the boy meets his love, Becky Thatcher. After school, they are left alone in the class. Tom confesses love to Becky, begs a kiss from her and a promise to marry him, but then accidentally talks about his previous bride. Becky is offended and rejects his most valuable gift - a copper bump from a tagan.

Chapter viii

Outcast and immersed in longing, Tom wants to die - not forever, but temporarily, so that Becky regrets her act. Then he decides to go Indians, but then rejects this idea and chooses a brilliant career pirate.

He intends to escape from home and goes to the forest, where he digs out his cache. Unfortunately, there is only one glass ball there, and Tom was counting on a conspiracy that helps together with the hidden ball to find all the lost. Tom decides that the witches interfered with him.

Meanwhile, the forest is Joe Garper. He and Tom act out the scene from Robin Hood and break up completely happy with each other.

Chapter IX-X

At night, Tom and Huck Finn go to the cemetery, not forgetting to capture a dead cat. They decide that the devil will certainly appear behind the recently deceased old man, and hide at his grave. Instead of devils, Dr. Robinson comes to the grave, accompanied by a local drunkard, Meth Potter and a half-breed, Indian Joe. By order of Dr. Joe and Potter, they dig a coffin, remove the corpse from it and firmly tie it to the wheelbarrow.

Potter starts asking the doctor for an extra fee. The Indian has a blood feud on his mind - once the doctor kicked him out of his house. A fight ensues. The doctor stuns Potter with a blackboard, and Joe approaches Robinson and plunges Maf's knife into his chest.

Frightened boys rush to their heels. Meanwhile, the Indian inspires the awakened Potter that he killed the doctor.

Tom and Huck sign a terrible oath - now they will not tell anyone what they saw, because if they open their mouths, the Indian Joe will kill them.

Chapter XI-XIII

By noon, the news of a terrible crime spreads around the town. Metf Potter is arrested, and Joe is suddenly witnessed.

For a whole week Tom cannot sleep peacefully because of fear and torment of conscience. All this time he visits Potter, locked in a brick booth in a swamp, and brings him food.

Meanwhile, Becky stops going to school, and life loses all its charm for Tom. Aunt Polly decides that her nephew is sick and tries to treat him with a variety of proprietary drugs that she truly believes in.

Measuring its capacity, as if it were a jug, and not a boy, she poured it every day with a quack swill to failure.

Tom comes to his senses when his aunt begins to give him the latest painkiller, tasting like liquid fire. She discovers that her nephew is quite healthy when he treats his aunt cat with the fiery medicine.

Returning to school, Tom meets Bequia, but the girl lifts her nose and proudly turns away from him. This finally strengthens the boy in his decision to become a pirate. He makes a gang of Joe Harper and Huck Finn.At midnight, taking provisions, friends on the raft cross over to Jackson Island, which is three miles below St. Petersburg.

Chapter XIV-XVII

Newfound pirates spend the first day of freedom cheerfully - they bathe and explore the island. After lunch, they see a boat sailing along the Mississippi. A cannon is firing on board - they are looking for a drowned man, who is supposed to emerge from a loud sound above the water. Tom is the first to guess that they are looking for them.

For a minute they felt like heroes. This was a real triumph: they are looking for them, they grieve for them, they kill for them, they shed tears, they repent bitterly that they found fault with the poor, dead boys.

Only at night did Tom and Joe get the idea that their family was completely unhappy. Joe wants to return, but Tom makes fun of him and suppresses the riot.

After waiting for his friends to fall asleep soundly, Tom leaves the island and makes his way to the town. The boy sneaks into Aunt Polly’s room, where Syd, Mary and Joe Garper’s mother are sitting, and hides under the bed. Listening to the unhappy women crying, Tom begins to feel sorry for them and wants to show up, but then a new plan is born for him.

At first, Tom does not tell his friends about his idea, but seeing that Joe is completely discouraged and homesick, he reveals his plan to the pirates. From a conversation in Aunt Polly's room, Tom found out that they had a funeral service on Sunday. He invites friends to appear in the church in the middle of the service, and they enthusiastically agree.

On Sunday, friends enforce the plan. The "resurrected" mischievous people are so glad that they do not even try to punish them.

Chapter XVIII-XX

Tom becomes a hero, decides that he will live well without Becky Thatcher, and turns his attention to his former love. By the change, he begins to regret it, but time is lost - Becky is already entertained by Alfred Temple, the same dandy that Tom once beaten.

Unable to bear the pangs of jealousy, Tom escapes from lessons. Becky has no one to tease, and Alfred is mortally bored with her. The unfortunate guesses that he turned out to be just a tool, and takes revenge - fills Tom's textbook with ink. Becky sees everything through the window, but decides to remain silent - let Tom be punished for a damaged book.

Teacher Tom constantly reads a book in which all students dream to look. They do not succeed in any way - the book is constantly locked in the drawer of the teacher's desk. The next day, Tom finds Becky near an open drawer with a mysterious book in his hands. Becky gets scared and accidentally tears the page to half.

At the lesson, Tom is being punished for a textbook damaged by ink - Becky never told the truth. Then the teacher takes out a book, sees a torn page and begins an inquiry. Tom realizes that Becky faces the penalty, and takes the blame.

Tom stood for a moment, bracing himself, and when he stepped forward to accept the punishment, the admiration and gratitude that shone in Becky's eyes rewarded him a hundredfold.

Falling asleep in the evening, the boy recalls Becky's words: “Ah, Tom, what a noble you are!”

Chapter XXI-XXIV

The long-awaited vacation is coming. They start boring - nothing happens in the town, Becky goes on vacation, and Tom is weary of boredom. The mystery of the murder weighs on the boy and harasses him. Soon Tom gets measles and spends two weeks in bed.

Having recovered, Tom discovers that the city "began a religious renewal." Not finding a sinner among his friends, Tom decides that “he alone in the whole city is doomed to eternal death”, and he begins a relapse, which puts the boy to bed for another three weeks. To his recovery, the "religious renewal" in the city is ending and the time of the trial of Math Potter is approaching.

Tom does not stand the torment of conscience and tells the truth to Potter's defender. The boy is a witness in court. During his story, the Indian Joe jumps out the window and hides.

They’ll justify Metaf, and Tom will become a hero again.

Tom spends his days in joy and fun, but at night he is languishing with fear.Native American Joe fills all his dreams and always looks at him darkly and menacingly. Both Tom and Huck are afraid of Joe’s revenge and realize that they will breathe calmly only when they see a mestizo corpse.

Chapter XXV-XXVIII

Tom is attacked by a craving to find a treasure. According to legend, the treasure can be found "in a rotten chest under a dried-up tree - where the shadow of the knot falls at midnight", or "under the floor in old houses where it is unclean." Tom captivates Huck Finn with his idea. Break all the land under a withered tree, friends switch to the local “haunted house”.

They entered quietly, with a beating heart, talking in a whisper, catching the slightest sound with a guarded ear and straining every muscle - in case you suddenly need to retreat.

Having mastered, the boys leave shovels in the corner and climb the rotten stairs to the second floor. Suddenly voices are heard. In the gap in the floor, Tom and Huck see a disguised Native American Joe with his accomplice enter the house. They are going to hide stolen money in an abandoned house and accidentally dig out a treasure - a chest of gold. The accomplice offers Joe to take all the money and leave the state, but the half-breed plans revenge and decides to stay.

Joe is guarded by shovels stained with fresh earth, and he takes all the gold with him to hide it "in number two - under the cross." Finally, the half-breed wants to check the second floor, but the staircase falls off under its weight, which saves the boys' life.

Tom believes that Joe is going to revenge him. Despite this, he and Huck begin to follow the mestizo to find out where he hides the gold. Tom decides that "number two" is a room in the inn, and Huck is on duty every night. Friends plan to steal a chest when Joe is away.

Chapter XXIX-XXXIII

Becky returns to the city. Thatchers have a country outing for all the children of St. Petersburg. Having fun and having a delicious lunch, the children decide to explore the McDougal Cave, an endless “labyrinth of winding, intersecting corridors”. A noisy company inspects the investigated part of the cave until late. Then the children board the ship and return to the city. Tom and Becky asked to sleep with friends, so their disappearance is detected only in the morning. It soon becomes clear that the children got lost in the cave.

Meanwhile, Huck watches the mestizo and discovers that Joe is about to take revenge on the widow of Douglas, the richest and most generous woman in the city, who once ordered the Indian to be unfastened. Huck decides to save the widow and calls for help from a nearby farmer with two dozen sons. The widow manages to save, but the Indian Joe again slips away. Gold is also not found in the den of a mestizo. From fear, Huck begins a fever. He is looked after by the widow of Douglas.

The next day, the men of the city rummage around the cave.

So three days and three nights passed, full of fear; a dreary watch lasted for hours, and finally the whole town fell into hopeless despair.

Tom and Becky meanwhile wander around the cave for a long time. At first, Tom is awake, but then both he and Becky realize that they are completely lost. Tom tries to console and support his girlfriend, but from hunger she weakens more and more. Children run out of candles, they remain in complete darkness on the banks of an underground source. Tom begins to explore the nearest corridors and in one of them stumbles upon the Indian Joe, who starts to flee.

In the adjacent corridor, Tom finds a way out of the cave - a small hole on a cliff near the river. Children are solemnly brought home. Two weeks later, Tom finds out that Judge Thatcher ordered the entrance to the cave to be blocked by a sheet of steel. Only now Tom remembers that the Indian remained in the cave Joe.

A half-breed is found dead near the door, which he tried to cut through with a knife. There, near the entrance to the cave, they bury him.

Tom realizes that “number three under the cross” is not in a hotel, but in a cave. In the aisle where the boy saw a mestizo, friends find a cross painted with soot on a stone.A narrow hole is found under the stone, leading into a small chamber, and in it is a chest with money.

Friends pour gold into bags and carry out of the cave. On the way, they are intercepted by a farmer and reports that friends are invited to a party at the widow of Douglas.

Chapter XXXIV-XXXV

The widow of Douglas already knows that Huck saved her, and is arranging a celebration in his honor.

The widow ... told Huck so many kind words and praised and thanked him so much that he forgot to think about the unbearable torment of the new suit.

The widow wants to take Huck to raise, save up money and help him start his own business. Then Tom declares that Huck is already rich, and brings bags of gold.

The bags are more than twelve thousand dollars. They are divided equally and put into a bank in the name of Tom and Huck, who become the richest boys in the city. Huck settles with the widow of Douglas and suffers terrible agony - he has to walk in boots, sleep on clean sheets and use cutlery.

Everywhere you turn, everywhere the lattices and shackles of civilization deprived him of freedom and fettered him hand and foot.

Unable to withstand such a hellish life, Huck escapes. Tom finds him in his beloved home - an old barrel - and persuades him to return to his widow, promising to accept his friend into Tom Sawyer's bandit gang.