Mark Twain's "tale" became his first historical novel, The Prince and the Pauper, published in 1881. This treasured historical satire, played out in two very different socioeconomic worlds of 16th Century England, centers around the lives of two boys born in London on the same day: Edward, Prince of Wales, and Tom Canty, a street beggar. During a chance encounter, the two realize they are identical and, as a lark, decide to exchange clothes and roles-a situation that briefly, but drastically, alters the lives of both youngsters.

The Prince, dressed in rags, wanders about the city's boisterous neighborhoods among the lower classes and endures a series of hardships; poor Tom, now living with the royals, is constantly filled with the dread of being discovered for who and what he really is.

Mark Twain's first attempt at historical fiction has been adapted many times in multiple mediums. The story has also become an archetypal inspiration for many similar "trading places" stories in which characters from different walks of life are moved by circumstances to experience others' lives first hand.