jester
10/24/22 - this was an in-class writing prompt, a visual prompt! we were shown this image and asked to write something based off of it. I've seen a painting of this dude before on tumblr lol. This one was a lil fun. the painting is "Stańczyk" (shortened name) by Jan Matejko. you can read more about it here! I honestly didn't know the history of it or the artist until I googled it just now. I had no idea it was being displayed in Warsaw, now I'm kinda cheesed I didn't go and see it while I was there lol!
note that these image prompts totally ignore any context or story behind the actual photo--we're expected to just come up with whatever based on what we see and nothing more :P
What happens to the court jester when the system he lived to entertain begins to fall?
The prince-to-be, aware of the restrictive torment the princess had been enduring for years and years, had finally done it. He had gathered his old thief friends, and staged a surprise ambush on the palace during their wedding. The sound was tremendous, and the grand silk curtains separating the main hall and the jester’s station did barely anything to muffle the sound of betrayal and bloody combat. He had been donning his bright red garb when he heard the commotion and, bells jingling with each step, he poked his head out behind the dividing wall to see what had come upon the king’s throne.
What he saw was the lifeless body of the princess’s father, crown missing from his drooping head, and almost six men fighting off the royal guard. To the horrified royal workers cowering from the scene, the strange men were winning. To the jester, heck, he didn’t know, what business did a meager court jester have in a king’s affairs?
He drew back behind the partition and thought on what to do. His king has fallen, and he had been serving as his jester for years. Surely there had to be someone in need of his services. He took a deep breath, and zipped up the final stretch of his red suit.
He hopped out, bells jingling once more, and scanned the crowd. There he was– he spotted the king’s old crown tilted upon the head of one of the thieves’ heads. His new client! He bounded through the bloody violence, nimbly dodging spears and swords, barely accumulating even a scratch on his cloth garbs. Finally he stood before his new king, an unknown blood-stained man with rage in his eyes and an axe in hand.
“Hark!” he began, voice drowned out in the royal trumpets signifying the castle’s downfall. “The greatest show is about to begin!”