Out of the mouths of babes comes truth. Or so they say. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcTSMIkaYu
Thaddeus Gubbyns had always been painfully honest since he was a little shit. That kind of honesty that people want to smack him. Others simply called him an asshole and left it at that.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMxabtjyIh
He spent his days doing what he loved most: telling people the truth, and calling things what they were: 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1oqrxk31TH
“Mother, you're already fat enough. You really don't need that second piece of mutton.”8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJzHVmCd3E
“Father's drinking again to drown his sorrows, because he can't handle his own emotions."
You see, Thaddeus wasn’t just into “telling it like it is.” He had this annoying habit (and I wanna admit, it was also a rare gift) of seeing through everyones bullshit and blurting it out loud. Mostly because no one else did or dared to. He always said "but I'm just being honest" and took it as a freepass to point out uncomfortable truths, lies and even questioning the status quo at times.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKl9EoXfunn
Even if it pissed people off.
One day, Thaddeus became utterly convinced he’d been personally chosen by the mighty gods of poetry. He shared this revelation generously with anyone who didn’t manage to avoid him in time.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31Xmwyity8
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According to him, his vocation had come in a vision when he was a sixteen year old; a boy with long greasy hair, with the face of a youngling but covered in oil and acne:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZm5ZCmQFZV
while sitting on the shithouse during a thunderstorm, a lightning bolt nearly missed him and shattered the privy into splinters while he just sat there, pants down, just doing his business. He lost consciousness as the outhouse collapsed around him. Everything went black at first. But then he saw a light that became brighter and brighter and then like in a wild feverdream, he saw fast paced images of a flaming goat running through a lush green field, a glowing lute in the skies spinning violently accompanied by a choir of monks chanting incomprehensible latin verses but in that moment, Thaddeus just KNEW what they meant.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFf4ufr8q3
An hour later he woke up, shocked and confused, he stumbled into the stable, dazed, barefoot and probably still steaming, where the goat Hildegard gave him a long, eerie stare while she leisurely chewed on some hay.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPwMsGraLG
That, apparently, was the sign. At least, that’s how he chose to read it.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVNNY8M2Wj
To bring joy with the truth and a lyre to the people as a kind of angelic minstrel. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiLOi08bKn
“Say no more,” he muttered to the confused goat, then passed out into the manure and bought a lyre the next day with zero musical skills.
Unfortunately, his songs closely resembled what most would call poetic diarrhea.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvZ2J4SQ8A
His rhymes stumbled like a drunk knight falling down a long spiral staircase, his un-melodies never fit the sound of his voice, and yet Thaddeus beamed with purpose; much to the suffering of those around him.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX65oPDX6R
For in his heart pulsed a divine mission: to speak the truth. Uninvited, unapologetically and loud. And always with the lyre.
His songs became infamous rather quickly, despite their dreadful quality.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYB2So5Ix5w
All of Dullmere was soon whispering about the slanderous ballad of Myrtle the baker, whose already odd reputation was now officially sealed as that of a witch.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOLf4g0ILO
Rumors said she danced naked on Broxenhill during full moons, whispered in tongues into her dough, and occasionally added "ingredients" to her bread that caused hallucinations. She sold them only to those who specifically asked for it if they were "in the know". And Thaddeus, eternal lover of truth that he was, decided to investigate by observing her through the bakery window at night.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu46Qg1ACrk
The next day he rhymed: 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEX5gtxFk1H
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"Money I gave to thee8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBG4OuaSuY
Bread you gave to me8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlT9Q5wvLVJ
Later I hugged a tree8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8tJnbdNLn
And then I spoke to a bumblebee8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1pYaZNqTR
Visions flickered before my eyes8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIWXJ3rC1G
The mayor turned into a chicken in disguise"
Myrtle was burned the next day.
He also rhymed about other things:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGa5hPFrEnR
About the mayor’s incestuous family line when he married his first cousin once removed, though that, of course, "was an official misunderstanding."8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSpvfKSsla
Or the bride who claimed to be a virgin, at a wedding Thaddeus invited himself to, where he declared:
“The veil upon your head, so pure and white8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIW4AmSkyb
but under your gown, not quite so tight.”
The next day after that performance, Thaddeus was exiled from Dullmere.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsXVBoqQ2m
They sat him backwards on a donkey and sent him away with a sign around his neck that read: “Banished from Dullmere".
Thaddeus took it as a badge of honor, if people got mad, he had done something right, right? 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3k8JADvhQ2
“Hear me, you dull-witted crowd,” he shouted to the angry villagers, “truth only stinks to those who never wash!”
Three rotten eggs, two moldy tomatoes, and a surprisingly heavy brick later thrown by the mayor himself, his wandering began. And with it: the mission to enlighten the world with truth and music; whether it liked it or not.
Over the following weeks, Thaddeus passed through five villages.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0opnkdTSd
In every single one, he was once again chased out with rotten eggs and vegetables.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3DkXcJlJj
His songs bore titles such as:
- “Beth’s Cucumber Ritual”: was banned in three villages. No one ever ate cucumber salad again. Ever.
- “The Maid with the Fishy Scent”: she sold trout by day and claimed virtue by night. A few bachelors nodded knowingly, the maid fled the village in tears.
- “In Manure but Never Alone. Memoirs of a Stableboy”: a long instrumental ballad, featuring unsettling animal sounds imitated by Thaddeus himself. Every stableboy in the village was suddenly side-eyed.
Even in a particularly remote women’s convent, he was beaten out of the chapel after just two verses, with a crutch from the abbess. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04FFqQQZg1
“The Nun and the Novice” was apparently not an appropriate opening number.
But Thaddeus didn’t give up. “The divine truth,” he said, while tending to his wounds, “demands sacrifices.”
One day, he arrived in the city of Muzzlehaven.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7ciXB3pYO
The name said it all: speaking required a license, and singing was strictly forbidden.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGbpHMB6Ql
The first offense meant a slap. Hard in the face.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeL8XVE4YVH
The second: a stay in the silent dungeon for 2 weeks.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1l1yXfXEv
The third: death by hanging.
Thaddeus knew that. But either way, on that beautiful day he stepped confidently into the market square, tuned his lyre (or pretended to), and began:
“In Muzzlehaven no one speaks8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZqBvhHeqm
for silence is what power seeks8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGgkBzyGXI3
Take heed for the day I sing8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOJgI1SoFE
truth flies like an arrow’s sting!”
He didn’t get past the second verse. A militia of patrolling silence-guards dragged him away as he loudly protested.
The king of Muzzlehaven, a gaunt and serious man, hadn’t heard open defiance in years. Not surprising, considering everyone kept their mouths shut in fear.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5IqKCBqL6
Nonetheless, he was impressed by this small man with too much confidence.
When Thaddeus, from his cell, performed a mocking ballad about the royal bald spot, “Fields of Drought”, the king stopped and listened with furrowed brows. Then when the song ended he looked at Thaddeus with his piercing, way too serious stare. And then, suddenly, he laughed. Loudly. For quite some time.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygrWTXTwel
Then he shouted, “Bring me this lunatic!”
Just minutes later, Thaddeus stood before the throne. The king examined him like an exotic animal, one eyebrow slightly raised: 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKFIVlxrHF
“No one dares tell me the truth. Except you.", he started with a serious tone, almost accusatory, "and only because you can’t help yourself. But how do you always know what’s true?” He leaned forward, his eyes sharp like an eagle, judging, never smiling.
Thaddeus gave a small bow: “The truth is, my king, I don’t know. But I seem to notice what others ignore, simply because I never learned how to lie politely. I seem to notice the things people like to cover with parfume and manners. I'm not a cruel man but I'm also not a liar. I simply do not understand the concept of lying since I was born." 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQk8fQja1l
The king thought for a moment. Then raised his hand.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNf0j7F09fQ
“Very well then. You alone may speak the truth. Therefore, from now on, I name you as my jester of the court.”
Thaddeus fell to his knees: “I thank you, noble king! I swear to never lie and to always rhyme!” Thaddeus remained kneeling, as if he had just been gloriously knighted rather than legally permitted to irritate everyone for a living.
As the official jester, Thaddeus was allowed to say anything, as long as it rhymed and reflected the truth. He finally got a look that fit him well: a colorful jester hat with bells, even on his shoes. And with him: always his trusted lyre.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9VsvAs3Nr
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Within a few weeks, he had uncovered five court conspiracies, how the royal wizard has been selling illegal mushrooms on the side that made you see gods or talking to flaming goats, depending on the dosage, and he made the royal cook cry. Several times. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwY9QgIiN4
(To be fair, the stew really was too salty, just nobody had the heart to tell her).
The people began to quietly celebrate him. Children repeated his obscene rhymes to the displease of their parents.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQnGBtBIfg
Now as his official status as the minstrel jester of the court, his songs became the conscience of the people; unasked for but utterly necessary. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdpXtg4ZiSk
He wrote history as Thaddeus, Divine Fool with a lyre. And more than often, the wisest person in the room.
At the end, after a celebration, during a grand feast, he stood on the table, plunked his lyre and proclaimed:
"Simple jester that I am 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnobxhkn87
my words powerful like a ram 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7av95Nqi2l
If you fear the truth you're not bright8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOyoihaTlA
I bring your dark secrets into the light!"
The crowd cheered and raised their glasses. The king nodded quietly with satisfaction and raised his glass in the name of Thaddeus the Divine Fool. 8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwlimVN0iS
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And somewhere, in a random stable of Muzzlehaven, a goat bleated peacefully.
and then Add to home screen.