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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> The jester and the king
        
(Message started by: BNC on Feb 15^th, 2003, 10:53am)

Title: The jester and the king
Post by BNC on Feb 15^th, 2003, 10:53am

This one is not a riddle originally – it is (IMHO) a rather nice story. And what better way to tell it here but to “riddleize” it? So:

The court jester happened to mention to the king that sometimes, an apology is worse than the original deed.
The king didn’t believe. “Give me an example,” he said.
“Fine,” smiled the jester, “give me a couple of days.”

The next day, as the king was climbing up the royal stairway, the jester sneaked behind him, and pinched him in his behinds.

“How dare you!” exclaimed the king. “You shall be beheaded (or hanged…) immediately!”

“Oh, your royal highness” said the jest, “please forgive me -- *****<hidden>********”

The king burst out laughing, and let the jester go.

1. Can you guess what the jester said to the king to save his life?
2. Can you think of other cases where the apology is worse than the deed?

Title: Re: The jester and the king
Post by bobcat on Mar 23^rd, 2003, 4:45pm

Perhaps the apology and explaination contained an insult that was way worse than the deed. Maybe something like, "I thought I was standing behind an elephant." The king laughed because he knew that the jester was trying to prove his statements from a few days earlier.

Title: Re: The jester and the king
Post by maryl on Mar 25^th, 2003, 11:29am

"I thought you were the queen."

Title: Re: The jester and the king
Post by Icarus on Mar 25^th, 2003, 5:18pm

LOL! Well done - I've been curious about this one for a month, but was not able to come up with the now-obvious solution!

Title: Re: The jester and the king
Post by BNC on Mar 26^th, 2003, 4:55am

on 03/25/03 at 11:29:19, maryl wrote:

"I thought you were the queen."

Nice story, right?

Title: Re: The jester and the king
Post by maryl on Mar 26^th, 2003, 8:37am

It was a great story; I'm sure there are alot of other examples of this-just can't think of any off the top of my head right now.