Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1913 — QUITE EQUAL TO EMERGENCY [ARTICLE]

QUITE EQUAL TO EMERGENCY

Diplomat, Intended Victim of King's Joke, Cleverly Extricated Himself From Embarrassment.

The passing of the court fool as an institution did not mean that kings had ceased to take pleasure in the sort of nonsense that the Jesters had been licensed to perpetrate. King Frederick William I. of Prussia was an incorrigible joker, and greatly enjoyed testing the cleverness of his ministers and advisers by planning embarrassing situations, from which they could extricate themselves only by the exercise of the quickest wit. However, the king was almost as ready to enjoy his own discomfiture as that of his intended victim:

One day, at a small dinner, the king, happening to be in the mood to play a prank, chose as his victim one of his ministers, seated at his left. After a moment’s thought, his majesty leaned toward the courtier on his right, and giving him a gentle slap on the cheek, said, “Pass it." As the tap was passed from guest to guest round the table, the king’s intentions became apparent The minister at Frederick William's left would either have to. commit lese majeste by slapping his sovereign, or admit himself beaten, and be the laughing stock of the table.

'Although the company was already in a gale of merriment at his expense, the minister was not at all ready to acknowledge defeat. Just as the blow was passed to him he let a knife fall clattering to the floor between the king and himself. Immediately a servant sprang forward, picked the knife up, and handed it to the minister; but what was the lackey’s astonishment to receive, instead of a word of thanks, a tap on the cheek. The minister, by his wit, had saved the situation without violating the rules of the game. The king was the first to join in the laughter and applause that greeted the minister's cleverness.—Youth's Companion.