The queens clown

The queen’s Clown


The place was filled with the queen’s aroma. Rich people, big, small, short and tall, surrounded the great hall with their ‘mighty’ presence. Guests from different countries were crawling all over, trying to get them selves some good wine and food. For ‘them’ the queens palace could be described, as ‘heavenly’, only heaven was much more than a bunch of drunken old rich ladies whose words where as poisonous venom. While everyone was having a ‘great’ time, suddenly a loud voice emerged from the background…

-‘He is here!! He has arrived!! The clown has arrived’!!! Said the queen with a loud scream.

That’s when I realized to whom she was referring to. She was pointing out to me, I was the clown, I!!!
Then suddenly all the faces turned, in amusement. Everyone was looking in anticipation, waiting for the clown to speak. The place went quiet for a few minutes and the queen began to ‘preach’. She spoke with her mind…

-‘I want to welcome all my tonight’s guests in my luxurious palace which is placed upon this earth. My name is ‘Queen’, but I also represent the king, for he no longer lives here. Wanting to show you how grateful I am of your presence, I invited a clown to amuse us and show as some of his tricks’

The crowd marveled at the queen’s words, and replied with a great clap, while I was standing underneath the warm spotlight- the only ‘friend’ I had in there.

The queen rose and with aloud voice, she spoke to me:

-‘For the sake of my guests and for my sake I ‘order’ you ‘clown’ to show us three of your best tricks tonight. If you fail amusing us, I will order my guards to have you captured, and you will be kept in the dungeons for three days, without food nor water…you may begin’…

I was surrounded by loud aggressive screams and hoots which only made things worse for me; in time I raised my head and spoke…

-‘My first trick is called the ‘spinning balls’…

I reached in my pocket and got out three balls made of glass. Eventually I started juggling with the glass balls for quite a long time. I didn’t know when to stop, since the crowd was amazed by my achievement, so I thought I should keep on going. When suddenly, I heard the sound of a breaking glass. It was then when I realized that I had dropped one of the balls. The crowd was shocked!

In seconds the queen rose from her throne and said:

-‘How dare you, ‘clown’? You failed your task right in front my very guests, what is your excuse?’

I slowly lifted up my ‘heavy’ eyes and silently replied:

-‘I will speak the truth to you, and I shall keep no lies from you. I saw how good I was doing in my task, and I became proud of myself, and instead of stopping where I should, I kept on going and in my pride I stumbled and dropped one of the balls. But now that I have learned from my mistake I am ready to complete my second task’

The crowd yelled and laughed but the show kept on going, and the queen ‘ordered’ me to proceed; so I did. I reached out in my sack and found a piece of paper. I took out the paper and placed it on the floor. I reached inside my pocket and took out my black thick marker and started to draw. Everyone gathered up to see what I was drawing, even the queen. ‘They’ were all curious to see what I had drawn.

After a while I had finished my painting and I showed it to them.

The painting revealed a great dining table, with rich food, candles and expensive wine. The dining table was long and had the shape of a rectangle. At the one end a great king was sitting in all his glory, with diamonds in his hands and was clothed in a robe made of gold. On the other end of the long table there was a mirror sitting on the chair reflecting back to the king. And all around the sides of the table sat the poor, the blind and the cripple, all having a big smile on their faces, looking grateful, and happy.

Seeing that, the queen shouted with anger...

-‘What is this ‘clown’? You call that a painting? It’s all wrong, and badly drawn, and plus it is not appropriate to have beggars and thieves sat around a kings grand table for supper’!!! What do you have to say now, Clown!!!

I raised my head and replied:

-‘I do not draw to show you my drawing skills; I draw to make people think’!

The queen paused for a minute and sat down, the crowd was silent as I proceeded to my next ‘trick’. But before I began the queen spoke:

-‘This is your final chance to save your self from the dungeon, you better do something good, clown’!

But right before I began my next trick, one of the queens ‘faithful’ servants approached and announced out loud to the queen.

-‘Oh great one, I have some important news to inform you. Your beloved parrot has just passed away, I am really sorry to inform you, your majesty’.

The queen started to shout to the servant…

-‘What! What have you done? I told you to keep watching, and always making sure that he is doing fine! It is your own fault for my parrot’s death; therefore I will have your head chopped off.’!!!

But just before she gave the order, I shouted out to her…

-‘Do not be angry for your parrot’s death, for he is only sleeping.’

The queen looked at me in vain and said...
-‘What do you mean ‘clown’? Are you calling me a liar? I have seen with my very eyes, and I know that the parrot isn’t sleeping, but he is indeed dead. If you prove to us otherwise I will not have you captured by my guards, here is your chance to save your self, and this is your next ‘trick’…Clown!!!

I shivered as the dead parrot was brought before me. I lifted up my head and took the parrot in my hands. I prayed. In minutes the parrot’s scream filled the great hall, and everyone moved back in fear. I proceeded in words...

-‘Death and sleep are brothers, and life is the father’

The queen marveled and got ready to spit out her ‘venomous’ words …

-‘WHAT!!! How can that be? ‘I have seen with my bare eyes the dead parrot, are you accusing me a liar? You are a ‘magician’ and an evil thing; my guards will have you arrested now.’!!!

Hearing that, I spoke not…not a single word. I was arrested by the guards which dragged me to wards the doors which led to the pale dungeons, but right before they threw me I recognized a smile in between the furious crowd. An old man was staring at me, with a smile on his face. I saw him pick up the broken pieces of the glass ball I dropped before. He held the pieces in his hand and closed them. As he opened them, I saw the ball, all fixed just like before. Then my attention was drawn in the queen’s voice:
-‘Come on, take him away, he is a liar and a magician, we will have him replaced in seconds.

When I looked around searching for the old man’s warm smile, I realized that he was no longer there. So I feared that my chances are running down.

And there I was locked in a dark cell, deep down in the palace, with rats and funny noises. I was scared, and cold, I was all alone. Then I slept.
I don’t remember waking up after that, I think I died down there, but only one thing circled in my head all this time. The only thing that I was thinking was the old man, the only person in the great hall who helped me see the true light in my darkness!




Harris Potamitis