Day 3......"The Third Tale"
Once upon a time, in a kingdom buried beneath the world, there lived… No. Once lived a jester. whom people called "Jester The Cruel."
No one remembered his real name. Not even himself.
Long ago, he was "nothing more than a court fool." His duty was simple. So simple. Make the king laugh. Make the nobles laugh. Make the court forget their misery for just a moment.
And he did.
Oh, he made them laugh. Very well. "As if he were born for it."
He danced. He sang. He twisted his body into ridiculous shapes, "contorting himself into something between a man and a puppet." The bells rang from the tips of his hat, their cheerful chime echoing through the cold stone halls of the underground kingdom. filling the darkness with laughter that never quite reached his eyes.
But laughter… is a dangerous thing.
More "dangerous than any of them ever knew."
It came from the jester.
A slow… broken… delighted laugh.
And when the laughter finally stopped...
The kingdom buried beneath the world became even quieter than the grave above it.
As for the jester?
"People say he still wanders those endless halls."
Still smiling. Still listening.
Waiting patiently…
for someone else to "laugh."
(pic by Chatgpt)