How dangerous was it to be a jester? - Beatrice K. Otto

Translator: Evelyne Almberg Reviewer: Mari Eig

10th century jester Jing Xinmo

Narren Jing Zinmo fra det 10. århundre

may have overstepped when he got chased by a dog,

gikk nok over linjen da en hund jaget ham.

then teasingly told the Chinese emperor

Ertende sa han til den kinesiske keiseren,

that he shouldn’t let his kids go around biting people.

at han måtte ikke la barna gå rundt å bite folk.

The emperor took offense and trained an arrow on Jing.

Keiseren ble fornærmet og skjøt en pil mot Jing.

But instead of begging for his life, Jing cracked another joke.

Men framfor å be for livet, spøkte Jing.

Luckily, this pun landed— so the emperor’s arrow did not.

Heldigvis landet dette ordspillet, noe pilen ikke gjorde.

Contrary to common belief,

I motsetning til vanlig tro,

jesters weren't just a medieval European phenomenon,

var ikke narrer kun et fenomen i Europa under middelalderen,

but flourished in other times and cultures.

men blomstret i andre tider og kulturer.

The first reliably recorded jester is thought to be You Shi,

Den første kjente narren antas å være You Shi,

of 7th century BCE China.

fra det 7. århundre f.kr. i Kina.

He declared that, as a jester, his words could not give offense.

Han erklærte at som narr, kunne ikke ordene hans være støtende.

This privilege was important to the jester’s position—

Dette privilegiet var viktig for narrens stilling -

but was sometimes violated.

Men det ble noen ganger brutt.

Jesters had unique relationships to power:

Narrer hadde unike forhold til makten:

they could be viewed as objects of mockery

De kunne bli sett på som gjenstand for hån,

and also as entertainers and trusted companions.

og også som underholdere og betrodde følgesvenner.

People became jesters by various routes.

Folk ble narrer via ulike veier.

They could be appointed due to physical or neurological differences,

De kunne bli utnevnt pga. fysiske eller nevrologiske forskjeller,

plucked from a pool of entertainers, or recruited by a traveling courtier.

plukket fra en gruppe underholdere, eller rekruttert av omreisende hoffmenn.

Such was the case when a royal servant

Det var tilfellet da en kongelig tjener

wrote King Henry VIII’s chief minister in the 1530s.

skrev til Henrik 8s statsminister på 1530-tallet.

He recommended a young boy to replace the king’s aging jester, Sexten,

Han anbefalte at en ung gutt erstattet kongens aldrende narr, Sexten,

with the assurance that he’d be much more pleasant than Sexten ever was.

med forsikring om at han ville være mye mer behagelig enn det Sexten hadde vært.

Some jesters boasted unique talents, like Roland the Farter,

Noen narrer skrøt av unike talenter, slik som Roland Promperen,

of Henry II’s 12th Century court.

fra Henrik 2s 1100-talls hoff.

Every Christmas, he performed a special routine,

Hver jul fremførte han en spesiell rutine,

the finale of which was a simultaneous jump, whistle, and fart.

der finale var simultant hopp, plystring og promping.

Additionally, jesters could influence important decisions.

I tillegg kunne narrer påvirke viktige avgjørelser

For example, if the clowns of the Tübatulabal nation

For eksempel, hvis klovnene fra nasjonen Tübatulabal

of the Sierra Nevada mountains

i Sierra Nevada-fjellene

thought a chief was leading poorly,

tenkte at høvdingen var en svak leder,

they could apparently get the elders to appoint a new one.

kunne de visstnok gå til de eldre for å utpeke en ny.

And, of course, Jing Xinmo knew how to sway the Chinese emperor.

Jing Xinmo visste hvordan han kunne påvirke den kinesiske keiseren.

A local magistrate once requested that the emperor stop trampling farmland

En lokal sorenskriver ba en gang keiseren slutte å trampe på jordbruksland

during his hunting sprees.

på jaktturene sine.

Infuriated, the emperor had the magistrate hauled before him.

Rasende fikk keiseren sorenskriveren halt fremfor seg.

Jing facetiously suggested that the magistrate be put to death immediately

Jing foreslo spøkefullt at sorenskriveren skulle bli drept umiddelbart,

and that the emperor let the peasants starve

og at keiseren skulle la bøndene sulte

instead of harvesting the land and paying taxes,

istedenfor å høste jorden og betale skatter,

all so he could gallop about freely.

slik at han kunne trampe fritt rundt.

Presumably seeing the absurdity of his own behavior,

Antagelig, ved å ha sett det absurde i sin egen oppførsel,

the emperor laughed and pardoned the magistrate.

skal keiseren ha ledd og benådet sorenskriveren.

In 1596, a French man was condemned to death.

I 1596 var en fransk mann dømt til døden.

But Mathurine, one of the relatively few female jesters on record,

Men Mathurine, en av de relativt få kvinnelige narrene vi kjenner til,

intervened in return for payment.

grep inn mot betaling.

With her help, the man’s wife successfully pleaded with King Henry IV

Med hennes hjelp, bønnfalt mannens kone med hell kong Henrik den 4.

for her husband’s life.

for sin manns liv.

Although rare, jesters were sometimes fired or even killed

En sjelden gang ble narrer sparket eller til og med drept

for taking their mockery or criticism too far.

for å ha tatt spøken eller kritikken for langt.

In 1638, Scottish jester Archy Armstrong

I 1638, forverret narren Archy Armstrong

worsened his already contentious relationship

sitt allerede anstrengte forhold

with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

til erkebiskopen av Cantebury.

The Archbishop had recently revised the Scottish Book of Common Prayer—

Erkebiskopen hadde nylig mottatt den skotske bønneboken -

an act that garnered strong opposition and incited riots.

en handling som høstet sterk motstand og førte til opptøyer.

Taking the opportunity to further humiliate him,

For å utnytte muligheten for å ydmyke han ytterligere,

Archy asked the Archbishop, “Who’s the fool now?”

spurte Archy erkebiskopen, “Hvem er narren nå?”

For which he was banished from the court.

For dette, ble han forvist fra hoffet.

Three years later, after the Archbishop’s arrest,

Tre år senere, etter arrestasjonen av erkebiskopen,

a pamphlet began circulating that ridiculed him,

begynte et flygeblad å sirkulere som gjorde narr av ham,

which was said to be the work of none other than Archy.

noe som ble sagt at var utarbeidet av ingen ringere enn Archy.

Meanwhile, some jesters openly mocked their royal bosses without consequence.

Samtidig gjorde noen narrer åpenlyst narr av sine kongelige sjefer uten konsekvens.

11th century Persian jester Talhak suggested the sultan was a cuckold,

Den Persiske narren Talhak fra 1000-tallet sa at sultanen var en feiging,

implying his wife was unfaithful to him.

ved å antyde at hans kone var utro mot ham.

One day, as the sultan rested his head on Talhak’s knee,

En dag, da sultanen hvilte hodet sitt på kneet til Talhak,

he is said to have inquired, “What is your relation to cuckolds?”

skal han ha spurt, “Hva er ditt forhold til feiginger?”

To which Talhak replied, “I am their pillow.”

Til dette svarte Talhak, “Jeg er deres pute.”

And when 19th century Persian shah asked whether there was a food shortage,

Og da den 1800-talls persiske sjahen spurte om det var matmangel,

jester Karim Shir’ei joked,

spøkte narren Karim Shir’ei,

“Yes, I see Your Majesty is eating only five times a day.”

“Ja, Deres Majestet spiser kun fem ganger daglig.”

Even when rulers were considered divinely appointed,

Selv når herskere var ansett å være gudommenlig utpekt,

some jesters managed to speak truth directly to power,

klarte noen narrer å snakke sant direkte til makten,

and reveal— in so many riddles, jokes, or skits—

og avsløre – i gåter, vitser eller sketsjer—

who the real fools were.

hvem de virkelige narrene er.