Story summary
Samenvatting van De waanzinnige koning
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A Nebraska man with a red beard is mistaken for the mad king of Lutha and cannot talk his way out.
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De waanzinnige koning in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 6 h4 h 45 min fast, 7 h 5 min slow
- Lengte
- 85.300 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1926by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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De waanzinnige koning in short
The Mad King is the story of an ordinary American whose face puts him in the place of a king. In the first part, a joke becomes a trap, and Barney Custer is swept through a castle, a bandit camp, a sanatorium and a cathedral, in the name of a loyalty he never asked for. He refuses the crown he could easily take and pays with exile.
What De waanzinnige koning is about
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.
Voor wie is het?. You will love this if you enjoy swashbuckling adventure, daring escapes, hidden doors in old castles, look-alike heroes and fast, humorous storytelling.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
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.
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Blentz Castle holds him and Maenck threatens her
The troopers carry both prisoners to Blentz, the fortress where Leopold spent ten years.
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Bandits, a loyal boy, and a king's ransom
After a night of walking, Barney meets two men who offer to guide him to the Old Forest.
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The real king appears and a coronation is stopped
Barney rides back to Tafelberg and finds a shopkeeper, who says the king lies in the town sanatorium.
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Ingratitude, exile, and a bomb in Nebraska
Once the true king sits on the throne, he shows no gratitude.
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A firing squad, a sewer, and a stolen car
Barney leaps from the inn window and a girl lowers a rope.
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Back in Lutha, the king is lured and lost
Barney crosses the frontier under Austrian bullets, wrecks the car in a river and hides in the woods for a week.
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A man proves himself by what he does
The novel keeps asking who deserves to rule.
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Loyalty, honor, and love pull in different directions
Almost every good character here serves something larger than a person.
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Told at a gallop with humor, doubles and secret doors
Burroughs builds his story from cliffhangers.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Barney Custer A bold young American from Beatrice, Nebraska, who looks so like the king of Lutha that everyone takes him for him, and who chooses honor over a crown.
- Princess Emma von der Tann The brave, proud daughter of Lutha's chancellor, betrothed to the king since childhood, who wants to keep her family's honor and her own heart.
- Leopold of Lutha The true king, held at Blentz for ten years, who is frightened and vain and wants his throne and his safety more than he wants to deserve either.
- Prince Ludwig von der Tann The stern old chancellor who has served the Rubinroth kings and Lutha all his life, and who puts his country ahead of any one ruler.
- Peter of Blentz The king's uncle and regent, who has ruled harshly for ten years and will do anything to keep or win the crown for himself.
- Captain Ernst Maenck The cruel, cowardly governor of Blentz Castle, who wants Emma and a title and hates Barney for blocking both.
- Lieutenant Otto Butzow A loyal, skilled swordsman of the Royal Horse Guards who serves the king above all and becomes Barney's firmest friend.
- Joseph An old servant from Tann who slips into Blentz to guard his king, and who knows the castle's secret passages.
How it ends (spoiler)
Leopold secretly steals the king's clothes and the signed papers and rides to Lustadt to marry Emma, but Maenck shoots him in the cathedral. Barney arrives in a hunting coat and says who he is. Prince Ludwig answers that Barney's royal blood makes him the rightful heir. Lutha's houses call him king, and Emma becomes his queen. Peter of Blentz is hanged, Coblich kills himself, and Butzow is ennobled.
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Vragen over De waanzinnige koning
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.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
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}
}
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