The Tale Of The Jester & The Happiest Nation On Earth

A long, long time ago, in ancient antiquity, there was a Jester who lived in a far away land. One night this Jester was sitting by his fire and watching the flames dance in the darkness, sparks catching on the heat thermals and rising up into the starry sky.

The Jester, despite having pulled a great hoax earlier that day, was sad because he knew that none of his pranks and jokes would stand the test of time; and all his great acts of foolery would all too soon be forgotten.

The poor Jester sat up all night, sadly sipping from his goat skin of wine and considering his predicament. The Jester fell asleep in a slumber but soon awoke suddenly from a dream as the sun rose into the equinox sky.

He leapt to his feet, his heart overflowing with joy! It had finally come to the Jester — the ultimate practical joke that would stand for all time as a testament to his work. And so he set about his task with a hopping spring in his stride.

*

The Jester travelled to a distant town where nobody knew him. He went into the marketplace and casually inquired of the vendors about the pranks that were played that day. The vendors were confused and cursed him saying he would only bring them bad luck.

But the Jester, being a master of foolery, immediately looked hurt and shocked by their claims.

‘How could you say such a thing?’ complained the Jester, ‘I was only being polite!’

‘How could it possibly be polite?’ said the market vendors, crowding up to the Prankster.

‘Well’, said the Jester, puffing up his chest in mock indignation, ‘it’s the first day of the spring season, and that can only mean one thing!’

‘What does it mean?’ asked the vendors, gathering around the Jester, curious now and beginning to feel ashamed of their simple upbringings.

And now the Jester feigned surprise, ‘How can you not know!’ he exclaimed, ‘are you trying to fool me?’

Then the Jester laughed, winking at the market traders, ‘I see your joke now, that’s a great one!’ he said, slapping his thigh, ‘a truly good prank, you nearly had me fooled there my friends!’

The market traders were truly confused now, but seeing the joy twinkling in the stranger’s eyes and his heartfelt laughter they couldn’t help but join in.

‘Of course,’ said one of the market traders, ‘I see your meaning, but could you, well just for some of us who haven’t fully understood, explain the prank?’

‘Yes, of course,’ said the Jester, ‘but only for the slow amongst us,’ he went on, winking and grinning.

‘Every year,’ explained the Jester, ‘in the big cities, where the noble and gracious congregate, they play pranks each year to celebrate the beginning of spring, which is, as you know, today! And by pretending,’ he went on slyly, ‘not to know of this thing, you play a crafty prank of your own!’

‘Why do they do this?’ asked the foremost market trader, ‘on the first day of spring?’

‘Well,’ said the Jester, feigning confusion again…

‘Just for the slower among us,’ said the market trader, winking and playing as if he understood it all.

‘Oh, of course,’ said the Jester pretending to catch on, ‘the noble and elite play jokes on one another and come up with the most elaborate pranks and tricks to ensure that their good luck remains. For they all know, as it’s taught in the high temples of the land, that if they do not play pranks on this day they will fall from grace by the year’s end; and next spring, they will be paupers like us!’

‘Now I see,’ said the market trader, ‘now it’s all clear, so that’s how they occupy these high offices!’

‘Why naturally,’ explained the Jester, ‘they are simply the best at coming up with ways to fool their fellow man and are perpetually engaged in thinking up new ways to fool and baffle their friends and neighbours!’

‘Aha,’ laughed the market traders, ‘of course we knew of this, we were just testing you stranger! But for the slow witted amongst us,’ said the trader, winking at the Jester, ‘we will ensure that they too take up this custom from this day forth, and every spring we will relentlessly play tricks and fool one another!’

‘Exactly,’ said the Jester, ‘and you will watch your position in the world rise up through the ranks until you are the chief traders in the land!’

*

The Jester left the town, feeling happy with himself; but too soon he got caught up with the mundane things in life. The Jester travelled far and wide through the lands seeking his fortune but it never came to him despite trying his hand at a hundred different professions.

Eventually, many years later and with a heavy heart, as he was travelling through the desert in search of work, the Jester approached a town that felt familiar.

As he drew closer to the town he could hear raucous laughter and whoops of joy. With curiosity rising, he rode on and was shocked to see the entire town dressed up in outrageous costumes, singing and dancing in the central square.

‘What is all this?’ asked the Jester, catching a costumed man by the sleeve.

‘What is this?’ laughed the young man, ‘it’s the first day of spring, and each year we sing, dance, pull pranks on one another and play the fool all day with total abandon!’

The Jester stood in silent amazement but before he could say anything the young man in costume pulled him aside, and said kindly, ‘You must be from a far away land, but in our country on the first day of spring the whole nation dresses in costumes, plays the fool and makes pranks and jokes all the day long!’

‘Why…’ said the Jester, as he slowly began to remember why he recognised the town from all those years ago.

‘Why!’ laughed the man in costume, ‘I see your joke stranger…’ and he winked at the Jester, ‘here, take a costume from the stables over there, and join us for the day!’

The Jester, smiling to himself for the first time in many years, went to the stables and chose a costume from among the huge piles of clothes and hats and wigs and capes.

*

Later that night, as the moon was high in the sky and the revelries had begun to slow down, the Jester was sitting with an old man around a fire.

‘So how did all this revelry and foolery begin?’ asked the Jester quite innocently.

The old man looked knowingly at the Jester, and slowly said, ‘Well, stranger, it is well known throughout this land that anyone who does not sing, dance, play pranks and act the fool on the first day of spring will suffer ill fortune in business and tragedy in their family.’

‘I see,’ said the Jester, as he looked up at the moon, ‘that’s quite remarkable… you mean to tell me that this whole nation partakes in this revelry on the first day of spring?’

‘Why yes, of course,’ said the old man, ‘everyone from the king and queen to the lowliest beggar in the land.’

‘That is quite remarkable,’ said the Jester.

‘But of course,’ said the old man with a twinkle in his eye, ‘in this town here, where you happened to pass today, the older men of the market know another story, which we keep secret from the whole nation, especially the younger generations…’

‘And what secret is that?’ asked the Jester.

‘It is said, in fact some of us remember the time, that a stranger came wandering into the market on the first day of spring, with a mischievous glint in his eye; and he fooled the traders and began a tradition that swept the land and made the people of our nation the happiest on earth for at least one day of each year.’

‘But why would you trust me with such a secret?’ asked the Jester.

‘Aha,’ chuckled the old man, getting slowly up from the fire, ‘I see your prank now…’ and he winked, catching his wine tilted balance on his swaying feet.

Standing over the Jester, the old man went on, ‘this stranger that I speak of, fooled our town and for many years we practised the revelry once a year until eventually we learned that he had fooled us into being happier than the neighbouring towns; and although at first some of us were angry to have been fooled we also realised that we had grown wealthier and more prosperous than the traders in the other towns, just as he had promised! And so, we continued the tradition and soon it had spread to the whole land; and we dare not tell the truth of this secret for fear that it might end the happiness and prosperity of the entire nation!’

‘I see,’ said the Jester, ‘I understand now,’ and he smiled broadly at the old man.

The old man gave the Jester one last knowing look, then smiled and tottered away into the dispersing crowd of costumed figures amongst the shadows cast by the fire.

*