King Matt the First by Janusz Korczak

First published:Krol Marcius Pierwszy, 1923 (English translation, 1986)

Type of work: Adventure tale

Themes: Social issues, politics and law, and war

Time of work: The early twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Locale: A fictitious country in Eastern Europe

Principal Characters:

• King Matt, a child king who reforms his country’s laws and government in order more fairly to represent children
• Felek, son of a platoon leader of the palace guard, and closest friend of Matt
• Prime Minister, the head of the cabinet of ministers that runs Matt’s country for him
• The Sad King, a neighboring king who wins Matt’s trust as a counselor
• King Bum Drum, chief of a cannibal tribe of Africa who becomes a political ally and friend of King Matt
• Klu Klu, one of King Bum Drum’s daughters, who becomes a good friend and assistant to King Matt
• Journalist, the principal writer and editor of the newspaper that keeps Matt informed of the concerns of his country’s populace

The Story

When Matt, after the untimely death of his father, the king, succeeds to the throne, he is a preadolescent, still unable to read or multiply numbers. His reign begins in an atmosphere of misgiving and anxiety. The cabinet members administering the government fear that the death of their former king will leave the country without effective leadership and easy prey to neighboring enemies, who have already begun plotting against the weakened kingdom. In spite of these circumstances, however, Matt shows promise and courage when he receives the crown. He calls on his ministers to work with him and educate him as they care for their kingdom. When his country is threatened by warring neighbors, Matt insists on being informed of all the details and given a chance to be useful.

Impatient when the ministers choose to withhold information about the forces attacking his nation, and when the myriad traditions and laws hinder his exercising his powers, Matt decides to escape from the capital and run away to join the soldiers in battle. Matt reasons that as king his role is to defend his people rather than be defended by them. Matt’s only friend, Felek, who is of the lower class but knows more of the world than Matt, has gotten some soldiers to agree to take him with them, and Matt joins them. Matt and Felek agree to keep Matt’s true identity a secret. Matt’s experiences in the trenches show him that the soldier’s life is hard, dull work. Matt observes foreign countries, however, and becomes interested in their people and their ways of life. The lessons of war that Matt values most are two: First, he learns why boots, oats, and horses are discussed with such seriousness among the ministers of his kingdom; second, he realizes that war is not heroics but the pointless killing of decent people. Matt does manage to distinguish himself by stealing into the enemy camp and informing his troops of the location of the enemy’s stored munitions. On one such mission, he is taken prisoner by the enemy and narrowly escapes execution when the enemy camp is bombarded and he is rescued.

When his true identity is disclosed by Felek, Matt returns home a hero, loved and admired by his subjects for his spunk and daring. He takes full control of the ministry and is officially dubbed “King Matt the First, the Reformer,” when he mandates changes in his kingdom’s laws. The experiences of travel and war have noticeably matured him. He takes his responsibilities as king seriously, comprehends the importance of his ruling strongly and wisely, and now knows, from having lived among foot soldiers, that not everyone in his country is happy, even with him.

Matt’s rule over his country shows him to be poorly prepared but energetic and sincere as a leader. He is still impetuous enough to order chocolate delivered daily to every child in his kingdom, but he is wise enough to face serious problems as well. His most revolutionary change is creating two governments—a parliament of children, which governs all aspects of the children’s lives, and a parliament of adults which governs adult affairs. He retains for himself authority over all subjects his own age and younger. In order to finance his reforms, Matt visits the three kingdoms that had waged war against him and lost, and asks for loans. He also takes two perilous trips to Africa, despite the minister’s injunctions against a king traveling into unknown lands, and he befriends a cannibal chieftain, King Bum Drum, who thereafter sends Matt all the gold and exotic animals he desires.

Matt’s widespread reforms, however well-intentioned and praised, reap consequences that he could never have anticipated. Felek is corrupted by power, and, when Matt has the children change roles with the adults, order dissolves, and thousands die in hospitals mismanaged by children. The children’s parliament breaks into riots. Matt’s chief informer, the journalist who controls the news for children and adults, proves to be a spy for an enemy king. Matt’s own ministers, led by the prime minister, uncomfortable with sharing their power and witnessing such rapid change, never fully cooperate with Matt and conspire quietly against him. Finally, motivated by jealousy, the son of a neighboring king wages war against Matt’s weakened country and succeeds in toppling his rule. Matt faces trial, is stripped of power, and is exiled to a desert island, where he is to be deprived even of visitors his first year of exile.

Context

King Matt the First makes most sense in the context of the life of its author. Janusz Korczak (born Henryk Goldszmit) was a Polish Jew who, out of his devotion to the causes of children, became a pediatrician and advocate of children’s rights. The author of more than twenty books, Korczak dedicated himself to communicating his conviction that children should be treated with respect, encouraged to criticize the bad treatment that they receive at the hands of adults, and allowed the opportunity to govern themselves. Korczak’s first novel, Dzieci ulicy (1901; children of the streets), expresses his outrage at the treatment of children in Warsaw’s impoverished neighborhoods. His subsequent books continued to depict the needs of children and propose ways to liberate them from neglect and abuse. As the dramatization of such a liberation, King Matt the First focuses on the obstacles to such change. By presenting the narrative from a child’s viewpoint, Korczak is able both to address young readers and to engage adult readers empathetically. His story re-creates the frustrations and anxiety inevitable when one proposes fundamental change, and it demands advocacy of the underdog. For many of the story’s details, Korczak had unique authority; in the orphanage for Jewish orphans that Korczak directed in Warsaw, he had created a children’s parliament by which the orphans largely governed themselves and struggled toward solutions to their problems.

Korczak’s devotion to the children of his orphanage led to his own death when he refused to abandon the children as they were led to their extermination at the hands of Nazis at Treblinka. King Matt the First stands in this context as more than a parable framed to ask searching questions about innocence and experience. It stands as a social and political appeal for the rights of children that in its realism attempts to evoke personal engagement in those issues Korczak regarded as most urgent.