The Wise Men of Gotham Stories

źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_Men_of_Gotham

Why did the men of Gotham act like 'mad men' or 'fools'? With at least twenty tales of their foolery, there should have been a good reason for such behaviour.

According to some traditions, the men of Gotham pretended to be quite mad and stupid to avoid the costs that would have been entailed in hosting King John, who reigned from 1199 to 1216. King John might either build a hunting lodge or buy a castle and grounds around that place. 

There are different versions. One says that the townsmen had no desire to be saddled with this expense, and therefore when the royal messengers appeared, wherever they went they saw the people occupied in some idiotic activity. The king was then told of it, abandoned his intention, and the "wise men" of the village remarked, "We know there are more fools that pass through Gotham than remain in it."

Another version says that the king was making his way towards Nottingham. His route would have taken him directly through land owned by the village of Gotham. At this time it was believed that wherever the King made his way would become a public highway. Thus, when the King's herald arrived in the village, he found those who lived there, engaged in various acts of visible insanity. And since people thought madness was contagious at that time, King John changed direction to avoid them all. 

Whichever of these versions is true, let's listen to some stories about "The Wise Men of Gotham":

Don't talk

Four brave men from Gotham decided to sit silently and gaze at a lit candle without speaking for a week or so. By nightfall on the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out.

The first man said, "Oh, no! The candle is out."

The second man said, "Aren't we supposed not to talk?"

The third man said, "Why must you two break the silence?"

The fourth man laughed and said, "Ha! I'm the only one who didn't speak."

The crane in the wheat field

Once, in the summer, when the wheat had grown high, a crane was often seen in the fields belonging to the Gotham townsmen. The bird was walking up and down in the grain patches to catch frogs. This troubled the men of Gotham greatly. "See how big he is," said one, "and look at the legs of him. He is treading down a vast deal of grain, to be sure."

"We must drive the animal away, or we shall have no harvest," said another.

"Very true," said still another, "and the quicker the better. Let's appoint a shepherd, for the job. He's used to much walking and the work would suit him well."

So one of their shepherds was appointed to go into the fields and chase the bird out. But as he went in after the crane his neighbours noticed that his feet were very broad and large, and though he scared off the bird, at the same time he trampled down a great deal of wheat.

"That will never do," said one of the townsmen, and the men of Gotham puzzled their brains for some better method.

At last one of them said, "The thing to do is this - some of us must carry the shepherd when he goes into the grain again, so that he shan't tread it down."

"Yes, yes," cried the others, "that's the proper thing to do, and why didn't we think of that before, I wonder?"

Then they took a stout fence gate off its hinges and had the shepherd sit down on it. Eight men lifted the gate on their shoulders and carried it through the fields of wheat, where the crane was in the habit of resorting, that the shepherd might scare the bird away.

"The shepherd won't trample down any more of our grain with his big feet now," said the men of Gotham.

If you want to read more "Merry Tales of the Men of Gotham", you can find them here:

http://oaks.nvg.org/gotham-men.html#dt