20th century, England, fictive fool, primary source, quotes
Once I was asked what motivated me to study fools and jesters, and I answered ‘envy’. A little of that, and a lot of admiration for their various skills and resilience. This quote of Kenneth Grahame perhaps conveys the exuberant spirit of the fool. Oh,...
5th century, dramatic character, India, play, primary source, quotes, Sanskrit
Another neat riposte from vidusaka, the stock comic figure of Sanskrit drama, who bears a strikingly irreverant similarity to court jesters. Here, in Kalidasa’s in Malavika and Agnimitra, the queen catches the king wooing a rival and vidusaka provides him a...
16th century, Europe, historical figure, primary source, quotes, Spain, Spanish, stories
An account of a Spanish jester which suggests a relaxed relationship with the aristocrats around him. Here is Gabriel, possibly jester to Fadrique Enríquez II (c. 1465–1538), 4th Admiral of Castille, relaxedly playing chess with the Duke of Alba, and deciding how to...
16th century, England, English, Europe, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories
An anecdotal (or perhaps just fictive) account of how an historical jester was ‘interviewed’ by the king. Will Somers was indeed fool to Henry VIII (r. 1509-47) and appears in a family portrait of Henry. In this exchange he doesn’t hesitate to poke...
2nd century BCE, China, Chinese, East Asia, Han dynasty, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories
At the court of the Emperor Han Wudi 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE), two jesters would regularly fire off riddles at each other in front of the emperor. On one occasion, Guo Sheren (郭舍人) offered to submit himself to a beating if he didn’t manage to out-wit Dongfang Shuo...
9th century, China, Chinese, East Asia, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories, Tang dynasty
Two common features of the jester come together in this anecdote: resilience and quick wittedness. The emperor’s idea of a joke, giving his jester a dunking underwater, is a bit schoolboy-bullyish, but the jester reacts so cheerily and cleverly that he wins...
Arabic, fictive fool, folk fool, Middle East, primary source, quotes, stories
There is an Arabic tale of a jester-like hunchback who helps the king see the stupidity of his superstitions by making him laugh. A hunchback was supposedly a bad omen, to be avoided. One day when the king was out hunting, the first person he met was a hunchback...
20th century, Europe, Hebrew / Yiddish, historical figure, Poland, primary source, quotes, stories
Always up-ending our expectations, no surprise to learn that the ever resourceful Rubinstein, de facto jester in the Warsaw Ghetto, nimbly solved the problem of being single by dressing up as his own wife. He could outwit death, so why not celibacy?’One source...
