The
Shirt by Francis Dillon
A king who has everything
is not happy. The queen convenes a meeting to solve the problem. The meeting is attended by the Chancellor,
nobles, councilors, magicians, and some commoners.
The Court jester, the poet,
and the leader of the army are also present.
Buckram is a commoner who feels that the jester
must introduce new jokes.
Buckram
brings a physician from Germany who says that the king must wear the shirt of a
happy man for seven days to be
happy. Then a committee is formed to
form a workable definition of happiness. The committee consists of forty two definitions,
Their forty two definitions are reduced to two. One definition favours the
brain, and the other favours the brawn.
The
queen is still unhappy. She searches for a happy man throughout the country and
she is disappointed. She wants to give up her search and return to her
country. At that time, she sees a
beggar. The beggar is singing happily. He says that he has no money. He does not need money. He sings because he
likes to sing. The queen is happy.
At last, she has found her happy man.
The
queen offers to take the beggar to the palace., but he prefers to remain at the
gate. Finally, he is taken to the Court. The king asks for his shirt, but the
beggar replies that he has no shirt. The king is so much amused, and he starts laughing.
He could not control his laughter, and he
continues to laugh. Thus his melancholy is gone completely, and everybody is
happy.
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