[Bards] jesters

[angelinblackink]

 A friend sent me this last nigh in regards to jesters of China.  I thought it was a bit interesting.  Don’t the western jesters have a large flock of pint sized jesters in their ranks as well?
   
  “Dwarfs were believed to exist out of lands that lie beyond the Chinese ken, either in the extreme South or far to the North. Within China proper, however there was a region (Tao Chao in what is present-day Hunan) where, it was said, many dwarfs were to be found; and this was a source for the supply of court jesters. “
source: A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, Eberhard
   
  And:
   
  “The Dwarfs of Daozhou 

In the land of Daozhou 
Many of the people are dwarfs; 
The tallest of them never grow to more than three feet. 
They were sold in the market as dwarf slaves and yearly sent to Court; 
Described as “an offering of natural products from the land of Daozhou.” 
A strange “offering of natural products” ; I never heard of one yet 
That parted men from those they loved, never to meet again! 
Old men—weeping for their grandsons; mothers for their children! 
One day—Yang Cheng came to govern the land; 
He refused to send up dwarf slaves in spite of incessant mandates. 
He replied to the Emperor “Your servant finds in the Six Canonical Books 
‘In offering products, one must offer what is there, and not what isn’t there’ 
On the waters and lands of Daozhou, among all the things that live 
I only find dwarfish people; no dwarfish slaves.” 
The Emperor’s heart was deeply moved and he sealed and sent a scroll 
“The yearly tribute of dwarfish slaves is henceforth annulled.’’ 

The people of Daozhou, 
Old ones and young ones, how great their joy! 
Father with son and brother with brother henceforward kept together; 
>From that day for ever more they lived as free men. 
The people of Daozhou 
Still enjoy this gift. 
And even now when they speak of the Governor 
Tears start to their eyes. 
And lest their children and their children’s children should forget the Governor’s name, 
When boys are born the syllable “Yang” is often used in their forename.”

--Bai Juyi (772-846) 

Translated by Arthur Waley
   
   
   
  It seems, from speaking to my few Chinese friends in the historical interest area, that the subject of the jester is not very mainstream.  Many of them must even go outside of their own country to find more information on the subject as it isn’t currently proper to bring things such as the jesters (who openly mocked and questioned governing authorities) into their basic history books
 
   
  I’m currently working with a college professor who lives in central china to find out and piece together some English translations since most of the small cache of information she has is still not in English.  I’ll definitely add more information as soon as I have it.
   
  In the meantime, I was wondering if there were any other jester-like people from other cultures that were other than the mainstream of western jesting?  I know Yagyu-kun has some interesting information about male geisha who were basically Japanese jesters.  I’m trying to prod him into telling us all his little secrets.  ^_^
   
  Xie xie,
  You Xue Xianxian

       
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