XII - Fool

Jester, jongleur, comedian, entertainer, and village idiot; the faces of the fool are as many and as varied as the roles they fill. For as long as history has been written by the powerful, there have been those who exist beside them with no greater mission in life than to teach the valuable lesson of not taking life too seriously. Not all fools dwell in the courts of the land, but wherever they are, they bring a legacy of laughter, a history of humility overcoming hubris, and a reputation for ridicule. Some tease, some cajole, and others denigrate themselves to show others the value of laughing at one’s self. No matter the approach, the end is the same; humor is the force that makes knaves out of knights and finds peace in the most profound sorrow. Fools share many traits with bards, but their aims are often entirely at odds. Bards are the centre of attention, with their performances inspiring courage and admiration for the performer and his audiences. In contrast, the skilled displays of fools may entertain, but the fool is never the point of the performance. Instead, the subject of a fool’s efforts is rarely grateful as all his faults are laid bare for the world to see. Kind hearted fools do this to teach, in the hopes of their artistic victims learning from the display. There are also bitter fools, lost in their cynicism, whose aims are to humiliate and bring down those above them. An evil fool can be a vicious, cutting performer, making his audiences laugh even while he sows derision and hatred in their hearts.