LEARN... Norbert shook his head and bellowed laughter. Learning would take years. How would you learn in a short time to do this?

The gnome took a lit candle, waved his bare hand through the flame, not once crying out, then snapped his fingers, and the flame was snuffed as if by magic. It's what comes natural that I need to know. So tell me,whaddaya do ?

Do... ? I muttered.

Do, the jester snapped. What kind of student have you brought me, auntie? Has a rock hit his head?What do you do? Juggle, tumble, fall down?

I looked around. I spotted a staff leaning against a table, roughly the same size as mine. I winked at Norbert. I can do this. I placed one end of the staff on the palm of my hand, balancing it there, then lightly transferred it to a single finger. For a full minute, it stood straight on end.

Oh, that'sgoood , Norbert crooned. But can you do this? He snatched the staff from me. In a flash, he balanced it, just as I had, upon his index finger. Then, with almost no hesitation, he flung it in the air and caught it as before on the same finger. Then again, on only one finger.

Or this? He smirked and began to twirl the staff so fast it looked as if six pairs of hands were twirling it. I could not even follow its path. Then he brought it to a stop and handed it to me in the same motion. Let me see you do that.

I cannot, I admitted.

Then this, perhaps... He winked at me with a bulging eye. The lady said you were sprightly.

In a motion that defied my eyes, this squat, curved man spun into a complete forward somersault, then backward again, landing precisely where he had started.

What about jokes, then? The lady said you could make me laugh. You must know some fabulous jokes.

I know a few, I said.

Norbert folded his arms. So, go ahead, boy. Bowl me over. Make me laugh until I piss myself.

Now I was eager to take the dare, eager to show the jester up. This I could surely do. I thought through my best inventory. There's the one about the peasant who is so lazy that as he watches a gold coin drop from the money bag of a knight riding by...

Knowit, Norbert interrupted. He says to his friend, `If he comes back the same way, this just might be our lucky day.'

Then there's the one about the traveler and the whorehouse, I began. A traveler is walking down the road....

Knowit, the jester snapped again. The sign says, `Congratulations, you've just been screwed.'

I went through two other tales that never failed to stir a laugh.Knowit , he said to both. He seemed to know them all. Emilie held back a laugh.

So that's it? That's your entire repertoire? The jester shook his head. Can you at leastrhyme? A dour king cannot ignore,refusedly , a spicy tale about his wife if it is told amusedly.

This stuff iseasy , right? Hump your back, hop around like an ape, everyone rolls over i............