By Sharon Fabian
1
Everyone feels down once in a while, even the king.
Whenever that happens, the king always has someone to call on - someone he can trust to lift his sad or angry mood. Someone who will tell him the truth, while making him laugh at the same time.
2
Who is this trusted counselor and advisor? It isn't a prince, a lord, a knight, or even the queen. It is. . . Wait, here he comes now! Can't you hear the jingle of the bells on his costume?
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Let me introduce you to (Fanfare, please!) the royal court jester!
4
He is outfitted in, not only jingle bells, but also the latest colors in a motley pattern. His hose are striking with one blue leg and one red leg. His tunic, in the same two-color design, features a collar with many points, each one tipped with its own jingle bell. His cap, the traditional three-pointed jester's "cap ‘n bells," is in a color-blocked red and blue design. Each point of the cap is tipped with a jingle bell.
5
Our jester carries a "bauble," a pretend scepter. The jester's scepter, unlike the king's, is topped by a small doll's head with a face that looks like, what else, a miniature jester. The doll's head wears a three-pointed, jinglebelled cap as well.
6
Our jester laughs all the time. The people he sees in the royal court strike him as funny, and he laughs at everyone. He even laughs at the king. He laughs at himself too. In fact, the jester cracks himself up. Everything he says is funny.
7
Our jester is so funny. He is humorous. He is ludicrous. However you want to say it, he makes people laugh.
8
Making people laugh is his job , but there is a serious side to his job too.
He sometimes acts as an informal advisor the king. He can say things to the king that no one else would dare. Sometimes he disguises the truth in a funny joke. This way, he can tell the truth to the king without fear of punishment. The king values the jester's honesty as well as his humor.
9
When the jester is not entertaining the royalty with his humor and wit, he

uses the other tricks that he keeps up his sleeve. Sometimes he tells a story.
Sometimes he sings a tune accompanying himself on his lute. Sometimes he even dances or does acrobatic tricks. He can walk a tight rope, and he can walk on stilts. Other times, his drama takes the form of a puppet show or an act in mime. Maybe he even challenges the lords in the hall to a rhyming contest.
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By the late Middle Ages, nearly every king had a jester at his court. The jester's services were in great demand, not only because they were a good way to pass the time, but also because they could banish a sad or angry mood, replacing it with laughter.
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Jesters were called fools. They acted like fools too, but in fact, a jester had to be bright, creative, and quick-thinking. Jesters at the kings' courts were the best at their trade.
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Other jesters were not so lucky. If they didn't find a place in a noble court, they were forced to wander the streets, traveling from town to town, finding an audience wherever they could find one.
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Of course, the peasants and serfs needed cheering up from time to time too, and so, the jingle of bells in the distance was a welcome sound. The jester in his multi-color costume, riding his horse outfitted in its own multicolor costume, was a welcome sight. After all, everyone could use a good laugh.
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