by Sara Mcgrath

Created on: April 19, 2008

THAT JESTER IS NO FOOL

In a small, little-known country, King Clovis sat in the throne room of his small castle.

"I'm bored," he said to the boy who trimmed his toenails. "I wish my court jester had not quit his job."

"Perhaps you could place an ad for a new one, Sire," the boy said.

"That's a fine idea!" Clovis said.

Later that day the boy nailed King Clovis's ad to a tree in the forest that surrounded the castle. The next day they heard a knock at the castle gate. There stood a jester. The boy led him to King Clovis's throne room.

"King Clovis," the jester addressed the king, "I am Pepin the Jester, here to apply for the job."

"Come in, come in. What is your experience?"

"I have joked and clowned for kings around the world," Pepin said. "I tell jokes, do magic tricks, gymnastics, comedy, juggling, and much more. You name it, I can do it." He bowed.

"How much is your fee?" King Clovis asked.

"Only a penny for the first day, two for the next, and so on for thirty days."

The king looked at the boy who trimmed his toenails. Clovis wasn't very good at math.

"Each day's fee is double the previous day's fee, Master," the boy said.

"Let me get this straight," said King Clovis to the jester. "One penny for the first day, two pennies the next, four the next, and, um, eight the next."

"That is correct, Your Highness," Pepin said.

This sounded like a good deal to the king. His former jester had charged one dollar each day.

"Pepin the Jester," the king addressed the jester, "We have a deal."

Each day Pepin entertained the king with jokes and tricks. Each day King Clovis paid Pepin twice what he had paid the day before. The first week: one cent, two cents, four cents, eight cents, sixteen cents, thirty-one cents, and sixty-four cents. The king still thought he was getting a good deal, because he was paying Pepin less than he had paid his former jester.

On the eighth day King Clovis asked the boy who trimmed his toenails for help calculating Pepin's fee.

"One dollar and twenty-eight cents," the boy said.

"Is that right? the king asked. "That's more than I paid the former jester."

"Yes, Sire. One dollar and twenty-eight cents is twice sixty-four cents."

"I wish I had paid more attention to my math tutor when I was a prince," King Clovis said aloud.

Each day during the second week, Pepin's fee went up and up. King Clovis became more and more worried.

On the fifteenth day, after juggling while doing cartwheels, Pepin held out his hand and asked the king for one hundred sixty-three dollars and eighty-four

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