Wise Fool

A very hungry porter smells a delicious turkey roasting on a spit fire grill. He pulls out a piece of bread and holds it over the turkey, collecting the taste of the smoke onto his bread. The chef remains silent until the last bite... and then he demands the porter pay for the smoke! Unable to reach an agreement, the two enlist Lord John the Looney to settle the dispute. In the end, the porter "pays" the chef by letting him hear the sound of his money! And all is fair!

This book is appropriate for third to fifth grade children. It teaches a lesson of justice through how the wise fool dealt with the dispute. This book would be good to read before a history lesson when discussing what it fair. We could equate the unjust taxes on settlers in America to the cook trying to be paid for smoke.

This book would not be good to read to a young audience but maybe an upper elementary school group. It is about people in the Middle Ages and young children may not grasp the concept or they might just be bored. It is about a poor man enhancing the quality of his bread by smoking it in a meat sellers goose smoke. However, the meat seller wants to charge him money but the poor man says smoke should be free. There is an argument but the poor man wins. The publisher website is http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/home.pperl. It is not a good website for teachers and it is geared more toward adult readings.

A hungry porter was walking by a cookshop and smelt the goose that was roasting. The porter brought out some bread and put it over the smoke for flavor. When he was finished, the cook told him that he owed him for using his smoke. The porter did not agree at all so it began an uproar. All of a sudden, Lord John, the King's Fool, was standing before them. The cook and porter agreed to let Lord John make the final decision of what they should do. The porter gave Lord John a silver coin just like he had asked for. Lord John asked the porter to bounce it very loud on the table so everyone could hear it. The porter did and then Lord John said that the sound of the coin has paid back the cook.

This book is about a porter who buys a loaf and bread and on his way home from the baker he stops by the cook shop and sees some meat roasting. He decides to let the steam from the meat season his bread while the goose cooks. Once he is finished eating his loaf of bread, the cook tells the porter that he owes him money for stealing his steam from his roasting meat. The porter tells the cook that he owes him nothing and they start quarreling. The King's fool hears them fighting and asks if he could solve their disagreement. The porter and cook agree to let the King's fool settle their argument. The fool asks the porter to give him a penny so the porter does. The fool then examines the penny to make sure that it is made from good silver show more and that it is heavy enough and stamped well. Then, he asks the porter to make the coin ring by bouncing it on the counter. Once, the porter does as he is told by the fool, the fool declares the verdict as, "The porter who ate his bread at the smoke of the roast goose has fully paid the cook with the sound of his money." show less