A little king and a great fool
An early 20th century German play highlights the twin identity playing out in each of us. Ah, if we were but wise enough to see it. Und doch nenn...
The Room of the Mimes
Meet Mael and Mlithe and Admlithe in an astonishing description of three jesters in the 'Room of the Mimes', from an Irish mythological cycle. Note...
Hair of the dog
There are many accounts of jesters intervening to rein in the crapulence of the king. In this case the curiously named Peter Bearskin (Peter...
Unlucky for some
A common theme among jester stories is that of intervening on behalf of an individual whom the ruler is treating unjustly. In this case, Birbal...
A list of fools (I)
One method of admonishing a king is to offer him the title of fool, a verbal equivalent of making him change places with his jester. Here is an...
Half pay
This account of the French jester Marais interceding, on behalf of two court musicians, is strikingly similar to an anecdote told about a Chinese...
Not half!
There are two strikingly similar accounts of jesters intervening when someone in authority had the bright idea to cut somebody else's pay by half. ...
Who is that man?
From the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology, we are introduced to Rocmid, jester of the king of Ulster Conchobar / Conchubar. 'I saw another man with...
In the guise of a joke
Sima Qian 司馬遷 (c. 145-86 BC) seems to have been the first historian to speak of the jester's role, including the key characteristic of using their...
Some subjects are so serious
A succinct and provocative statement by Niels Bohr, flying in the face of the common supposition that the more serious the subject the less...
Send them packing
Sima Qian's 司馬遷 (c. 145-86 BCE) `Biographies of the Jesters', written around 100 BCE, is a rich source of examples of jesters intervening in...
Crazy Caterina
Many court fools were considered 'naturals', having some form of mental disability or neurodiversity. This letter gives examples of the behaviour...
A splendid idea
When Er Shi Huangdi 二世皇帝 (r. 209-207 BCE), the second (and last) emperor of the Qin dynasty, came to the throne, he decided to lacquer the Great...
Railing and scoffing
A curious and detailed note from Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612), a close advisor to James I, and son of an even closer advisor to...
My horse, my horse
Jester Meng 優孟 is one of the Chinese jesters immortalized in what may be the world's first historical study of jesters, by China's Herodotus Sima...
Chain of gold
This extract from the State Papers of Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) provides a curious, passing reference to an anonymous jester in the French...
Crack a joke and slash a tax
Here a jester cracks a joke in response to a question from the emperor, not only making him laugh but also persuading him to ease excessive taxes. ...
Begging a fool
'Begging' a fool meant taking in a person considered incapable of handling their own affairs, and acting as their guardian. So far, so magnanimous. ...
Farewell ditty
The ability to extemporize poems and ditties is often attributed to jesters, with some overlap also existing in Europe between jesters and those who...
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