Résumé
Résumé de Le Roi fou
Go deeper: the whole of Le Roi fou
About 6 h 10 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will love this if you enjoy swashbuckling adventure, daring escapes, hidden doors in old castles, look-alike heroes and fast, humorous storytelling.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What if a joke made you a king? Barney Custer, a young American from Beatrice, Nebraska, is touring the mountain kingdom of Lutha with a reddish-brown beard he must keep because he lost an election bet. He rescues a girl from a runaway horse, then introduces himself as the mad king of Lutha. She believes every word.
The Mad King is an adventure novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A joke on a mountain road backfiresFree
- 2Blentz Castle holds him and Maenck threatens her
- 3Bandits, a loyal boy, and a king's ransom
- 4The real king appears and a coronation is stopped
- 5Ingratitude, exile, and a bomb in Nebraska
- 6A firing squad, a sewer, and a stolen car
- 7Back in Lutha, the king is lured and lost
- 8A man proves himself by what he does
- 9Loyalty, honor, and love pull in different directions
- 10Told at a gallop with humor, doubles and secret doors
Point clé 1 sur 10
A joke on a mountain road backfires
Barney arrives in Lutha for a hunting trip, wearing a reddish-brown beard he must keep until the fifth of November. The country is in uproar, because the mad king Leopold has escaped from Blentz Castle after ten years. His uncle Peter of Blentz, the regent, posts a notice describing a man with gray eyes and a reddish-brown beard.
Soon a girl on a runaway horse flashes past his roadster. Barney catches her as she jumps and goes over the cliff with the car. He climbs out unhurt. Feeling mischievous, he calls himself the mad king of Lutha. She goes white and kisses his hand. She is Emma von der Tann, whose father has always said the king is not mad.
Barney confesses it was a joke, but it is too late. She decides to humor a king who has lost his mind. Then Peter's troopers arrive to find Emma weeping over what they take for the dead king. A careless joke can bind you to a role that others are eager to believe.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Le Roi fou
About 6 h 10 min to read.Questions about Le Roi fou
What is The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs about?
It follows Barney Custer, an American who looks exactly like the missing king of the small country of Lutha. Mistaken for the king, he is drawn into plots, escapes, a coronation and a war, all while falling in love with a princess.
Who is the mad king in The Mad King?
Leopold, the young king of Lutha, is declared mad by his uncle Peter of Blentz and held in Blentz Castle for ten years. Whether he is truly mad, or only kept from his throne, is one of the questions the story answers.
Is Lutha a real country?
No. Lutha is an invented mountain kingdom, though its neighbors in the story, Austria and Serbia, are real and appear as the First World War begins. The setting gives the adventure a European backdrop of castles, courts and borders.
Why does Barney Custer keep his red beard?
Barney lost an election bet and must keep the beard until the fifth of November, or else wear a green wastebasket bonnet with red roses. The beard makes him resemble the missing king, and that resemblance drives the plot.
Is The Mad King an easy book to read?
Yes, the style is clear and lively, with short chapters that end on cliffhangers. Barney's humor and the steady action make it easy to follow, and the two parts each have a clear goal and a new set of dangers.
Cite this edition
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Mad King. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king.
Burroughs, E. R. (2026). The mad king. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king (Original work published 1926)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Mad King. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king.
@book{burroughs2026mad,
author = {Burroughs, Edgar Rice},
title = {The Mad King},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king},
note = {First published 1926}
}
