The next day, the residents of Shilda gathered under a large linden tree in the market square. In the summer they held gatherings here, in the winter the tavern served as the town hall, and the place near the stove was the chairman's.
Smart and sensible people, they quickly resolved all the controversial and confusing matters, and then got down to the main thing: what to do and what to do so that they would no longer be recalled from home. At the same time, they weighed all the pros and cons - the harm caused and the benefit that they received from foreign princes - and it soon became clear to them that the benefit did not cover the damage. It was then that a general survey was carried out among the residents: what should they do in the future?
You should have listened to what wise speeches flowed here, how highly intelligent the advice was and how well people spoke!
Some believed that princes and nobles should simply give up. Others said that there was no need to refuse them, but that it was necessary to give them such bad advice every time that the princes themselves would leave Shilda and its inhabitants alone.
At the end, an old townsman came forward, asked for words and made the following speech:
“And I, for example, think so: since we, Schildburgers, were torn from our homes because of our wisdom and clear mind, then, in my understanding, we need to save ourselves through stupidity and buffoonery.” Then no one will touch us and will not call us anywhere. Therefore, from now on, all of us, young and old, must play the fool in the most serious way possible, and whatever stupidity comes into the mind of one of us, he must do it right away. However, know that playing a jester or a fool is no small art. It happens that a stupid person takes on such a task, and instead of laughter, the result is only tears. And even worse than that: someone else will decide to play the fool, and he himself will really turn into one. But this does not threaten us, Schildburgers, we are a wise people, there is no one in the world smarter than us.
The Schildburgers discussed the elder's proposal with great care. This subject seemed so important to them that they decided not to rush, following the smart rule: if you hurry, you will make people laugh. And when they really weighed everything, they came to the conclusion that the jester’s cap could not bring any harm. And they went home, obliging each other to think about which tip to grab that fool’s cap first of all.
Secretly, some of them were scratching their heads. How so? In your declining days, after so many years of philosophizing, suddenly turn into fools! In addition, the Schildburgers realized that the matter was indeed not easy: everywhere there are more stupid people than smart ones, and fools cannot stand being poked in the eyes with their stupidity.
But since it was about the common good, they finally decided to say goodbye to their wisdom and become inveterate fools.
This ends the part of our book in which we talked about the great mind of the Schild burghers. Now the story will follow about how the residents of the city of Shilda saved themselves by stupidity.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru