An Angel had taken the place of the king, and although no one was conscious of the change every one present vaguely felt the improvement.
Robert stood speechless before the miracle. Then his surprise gave way to anger at seeing another in his place. The Angel spoke first.
“Who art thou, and why comest thou here?” he asked benignly, meeting Robert’s threatening look with one of almost divine compassion.
“I am the king,” answered Robert indignantly, “and I have come to claim my throne from the impostor who is on it.”
As he stood before the Angel, Robert did not look at all royal, and his clothing made such a difference in his appearance that the courtiers did not notice even a resemblance to their king, and took him for a stranger. At his bold words they sprang angrily from their seats and drew their swords to put him to death for his insolence.
The Angel was unmoved. He signed to the courtiers to sheath the weapons that they had drawn in his defense.
“No, thou art not the king,” he said to Robert. “Thou art the king’s jester and henceforth thou shalt wear bells and cap and a scalloped cape and lead a monkey about by a string. Thou shalt obey my servants and wait on my men.”
In those days every king kept a jester or a fool whose duty it was to amuse his master and the court. Often the jester was not quite right in his mind and for that reason said odd things which would not have occurred to entirely sane people, and he was allowed to make speeches which would have been rebuked if they had come from others. Thus the Angel treated Robert’s claim as a jest.
The attendants were delighted with the new joke. Paying no attention except laughter to Robert’s cries and explanations, they thrust him from the banquet hall and down the stairs. A crowd of pages ran before him throwing the doors wide open with mock ceremony, while the boisterous men-at-arms shouted “Long live the King” with noisy glee.
How he got through the evening King Robert hardly knew. He was so tired when he was shown at last to his comfortless straw bed that he slept better than he had done many a night on his royal couch.