Free Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Scieszka

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre,
Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
     
    Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
     
    First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1991
Published by Puffin Books, 1993
This edition published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2006
10
     
Text copyright © Jon Scieszka, 1991 Illustrations copyright © Lane Smith, 1991
     
    All rights reserved
     
    THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PREVIOUS PUFFIN BOOKS EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Scieszka, Jon.
Knights of the kitchen table / by Jon Scieszka; illustrated by Lane Smith.
p. cm.—(The Time warp trio)
Summary: When Joe, Fred, and Sam are sent back in time by a magic book,
they find themselves face-to-face with giants, dragons, wizards,
and the Knights of the Round Table.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-07702-3
    [1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Knights and knighthood-Fiction. 3. Humorous stories.]
I. Smith, Lane, ill. II. Title. III. Series. IV. Series: Scieszka, Jon. Time warp trio.
PZ7.S41267Kn 1993 [Fic]—dc20 92-44475 CIP AC
     

     
    The Time Warp Trio ® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
     
    The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
    http://us.penguingroup.com

For Casey

ONE
    Halt, vile knaves. Prepare to die.”
    “Is he talking to us?” asked Fred.
    I looked around the small clearing. A dirt path went from one end to the other. Fred, Sam, and I stood at one end. A large guy on a black horse stood at the other. He was dressed from head to toe in black armor like you see in those books about knights and castles.
    “I don’t see any other vile knaves around,” I said.
    Sam cleaned his glasses on his T-shirt and took another look at the end of the path. “Yes, there is a Black Knight down there.”
    The sun glinted off a very real, and very sharp-looking sword hanging from the Black Knight’s side.
    “And, yes, he looks like he’s planning to hurt us,” added Sam.
    “Hey, it’s not my fault,” I said. “I told Fred not to open it.”
    “You did not,” said Fred.
    “Did, too.”
    “Did not.”
    “Did, too.”
    “Excuse me, guys,” said Sam. “Can we discuss this later? I think that large angry man in the black can is getting ready to kill us now.”
    The Black Knight lowered his lance and set his shield in front of him.
    “Um ... Hello there, Mr. Knight, sir,” I called across the clearing. “My name is Joe. My friends and I seem to have lost our way from my birthday party. If you could just take us to the nearest phone—”

    “None shall pass,” boomed the Black Knight.
    “If you could just point the way toward New York we’ll be on our way and—”
    “None shall pass!”
    “I think I heard that somewhere before,” said Sam.
    “Thy tongue and garb art passing strange. Methinks thy band hails not from this shore.”

    “What did he say?” asked Fred.
    “He said we look funny, and we’re probably not from around here,” I said. “And right you are, Sir Knight,” I called across the clearing (I threw in