Format: 🎧 Audiobook
Polish classic · Janusz Korczak · 1923 · Book 2
King Matt on the Desert Island
The boy who was king is beaten in war and sent into exile on a lonely island. The sequel — and the tender, unforgettable conclusion — of the Maciuś story.
🔊 In the audiobook the young king keeps his original Polish name — Maciuś, pronounced MAH-choosh.
- English — ▶ available now · complete edition or 7-part serial
New to Maciuś? Start with King Matt the First (Book 1).
Two editions · one story
The whole book — or piece by piece
The English audiobook of King Matt on the Desert Island is published in two editions: the complete audiobook (7 h 21 min, 37 chapters) and a serial in 7 parts. Each part is a self-contained slice of about an hour that you buy and listen to separately — a pocket-money way to start, and you own every part forever.
- 📚 7 parts — about an hour each, perfect bedtime portions
- 💰 Lower entry price — start with Part 1, continue whenever you're ready
- 🎧 Buy & listen per part — every part plays in the app like a full book
- 🏝️ Want it all at once? The complete edition is a single purchase
The 7 parts
Illustrated audiobook
Where the ending begins
Every chapter of the audiobook is illustrated in the same warm, hand-painted storybook style. Here are the three opening scenes — the kings deciding, once more, what to do with the boy who was a king.
Maps of the world with little flags
In a royal council hall, the far wall is hung with maps of the whole world — and the kings look for a lonely island to send Maciuś to.
Bum-Drum rises from the table
The African king Bum-Drum springs up in protest — he has not forgotten the child who once treated him as an equal.
The kings confer in the orange grove
Away from the crowds, among the orange trees, the kings quietly decide the fate of a nine-year-old.
…and 108 more illustrations across the audiobook — one for almost every turn of the story.
Dramatis personae
Who returns for the ending
The deposed boy king, the friends who cross the sea for him, the one faithful guard on the island — and the grown-ups still arguing over what to do with a child who dreamed too big.
Maciuś
Beaten in the last war and led out past the crowds like a small Napoleon, Maciuś is sent to a desert island to live out his days in exile. Serious, brave and more alone than ever, he learns the violin, keeps a diary, and tries with a child's clear heart to understand fear, friendship, loneliness and death.
Korczak carries his small king, gently and without flinching, all the way to the ending he always meant for him — one of the most famous last chapters in children's literature.
Walenty
The guard on the islandThe soldier set to guard the exiled king — the one companion left to Maciuś on the island. Plain, faithful and kind, Walenty becomes the boy's closest friend in loneliness, the grown-up who treats a deposed child-king simply as a person to be cared for.
The Sad King
Truest friend among the kingsA thoughtful, weary monarch who understands the weight of a crown better than anyone alive. Even in exile the boy is not forgotten by him: the Sad King still writes, still warns, still watches — the moral heart of the whole story.
Klu-Klu
Princess · Maciuś's allyThe brave young African princess, daughter of King Bum-Drum. Fearless and sharp-witted, she meets every court as a full equal. When the darkest hours come, Klu-Klu proves Maciuś's most loyal and most daring ally — a nut sent across the sea, and far more, are hers.
Bum-Drum
African king · Klu-Klu's fatherA great king, wise, generous and large-hearted, who received Maciuś as a friend and a brother-king. Even from far across the sea he watches over the young king, and longs to come to his aid when the boy's troubles grow heaviest.
The old doctor
Physician · Maciuś's mentorThe old court doctor, who has known Maciuś since the day he was born and loves him like a son. Gentle and sad, he is one of the very few grown-ups the lonely king trusts completely — a self-portrait of Korczak himself, who stays near Maciuś to the last.
Felek
The friend from the old daysThe soldier's son who was Maciuś's first real friend, raised far above his station in the days of the children's parliament. Grown vain on titles, Felek is one of the king's heaviest sorrows — and his path crosses Maciuś's again before the end.
Colonel Dormesko
Officer · the "sleepyhead"An officer caught up in the affairs of the fallen king — the drowsy colonel whose orders and papers weave through Maciuś's escape and exile, part of the great political machine that keeps arguing over the boy long after his throne is gone.
Queen Campanella
Among the ruling kingsA queen entangled in the story of the deposed child-king, linked to the green-bannered children's revolt that still stirs beyond the island. Her voice sounds in the great arguments of the grown-ups over what is to be done with Maciuś.
King Orestes
A foreign kingOne of the foreign kings still quarrelling over the boy who once dared to give children a parliament. He takes his part in the councils and intrigues that decide Maciuś's fate from far away.
Alo & Ala
The two children of the seaThe lighthouse keeper's children Maciuś meets in his loneliness — small, real and tender, they bring the exiled king a little ordinary childhood. It is these two who tend Maciuś's grave at the end, keeping watch over the boy who was king.
From the prison to the island
The road into exile
Thirty-seven chapters in which the boy who was king becomes a fugitive, a prisoner, a diarist on a lonely island — and, in the end, a legend.
The prison and the escape
The war is lost. While the kings quarrel over which island to send him to, Maciuś waits in a cell — and digs a tunnel through the wall.
On the run
Hidden in a sausage seller's sack, a price of five million on his head, Maciuś moves through a world that no longer knows his face.
The farewell
The Sad King, a great council of kings, a farewell feast — and a boy deciding to face exile as a philosopher.
The island diary
Alone with Walenty and a violin, Maciuś keeps his diary. The lighthouse children, a canary's funeral — and a nut from Klu-Klu across the sea.
The holy war
Maciuś escapes to save the children, races down the river — and is taken to the hardest prison of all, while the world begins to mourn him.
The last Monday
Under the name Marcinek the boy who was really a king goes to work. The Sad King's last letter comes — and the story reaches its quiet, famous close.
An island game
Match the scenes of the island
Flip the cards and find the pairs from Maciuś's last story. The fewer the moves, the sharper your memory.
From the audiobook
Chapter one
In our English audiobook the little king keeps his original Polish name — Maciuś (say: MAH-choosh).
Oh, how dreadfully miserable Maciuś was in prison. Not exactly miserable, really — but cramped. Cramped and bored.
Because if somebody is sitting in prison and is going to be shot, he is not bored at all. But Maciuś was to be sent to a desert island. Maciuś had lost the war, he was a royal prisoner, and — just like Napoleon — he was going to be sent to an island.
They were supposed to send him off in a week, and now more than three weeks had gone by — and nothing. Because the three kings who had taken him prisoner simply could not agree. In the end they announced a contest, and printed a notice in all the newspapers of the whole world:
"If any geography teacher can point us to a good island for Maciuś, he will receive a large reward. We give one month's time to write where this island lies and why it is suitable for Maciuś."
The answers began to arrive. The kings hung maps of all the parts of the world on the walls, and into the islands they liked best they stuck pins with little flags…
The first minutes are free in the app.
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need to have read King Matt the First?
It helps, but it is not required. This is the sequel and the conclusion of the Maciuś story — the boy king has already lost his war and his throne. New to Maciuś? Start with the complete audiobook of King Matt the First; if you already know it, this is the ending Korczak always meant for it.
Who is this audiobook for?
Korczak's classic, read across generations. Suggested age 8+. It is the bravest and saddest of the Maciuś books: it treats a child's loneliness, and a child's death, with the same seriousness it gives to kings and wars. Younger listeners may want to talk it through with a parent.
How long is the audiobook?
About 7 hours 21 minutes across 37 chapters, with a distinct voice for every character. Listen at your own pace — a few chapters an evening, on the commute, in the car. First minutes free in the app.
Can I buy the book in parts?
Yes — King Matt on the Desert Island is also published as a 7-part serial edition. Each part is about an hour and is bought separately in the store, so you can listen piece by piece at a lower entry price, and you own every part forever. Prefer the whole story at once? The complete edition is a single purchase — both live in the same app.
Are there ads or subscriptions?
Zero ads, no subscription. You buy a specific book once and own it forever — no per-chapter fees. The Android app is live; iOS and desktop are coming.