Quan Becky digué al seu pare, en estricta confiança, com, a l'escola, Tom havia rebut les fuetades en lloc d'ella, el jutge en fou visiblement commogut; i, quan ella demana gracia per la gran mentida que Tom havia dit per transportar el fueteig de l'espatlla d'ella a la seva, el jutge digué, en un bell esclat, que aquella era una mentida noble, generosa, magnanima: una mentida digna de redreçar el cap i transitar per la historia de bracet amb la lloada Veritat de George Washington sobre la destral!
When Becky told her father, in strict confidence, how Tom had taken her whipping at school, the Judge was visibly moved; and when she pleaded grace for the mighty lie which Tom had told in order to shift that whipping from her shoulders to his own, the Judge said with a fine outburst that it was a noble, a generous, a magnanimous lie--a lie that was worthy to hold up its head and march down through history breast to breast with George Washington's lauded Truth about the hatchet!