Jeffery Winkler Comedy Imagine that this is a Shakespearean play. The story takes place in medieval Italy. King Aurelas is the king of the small kingdom of Genoa, and wants to strengthen his kingdom by marrying his daughter Dulcenia to Fabio, the prince of Florence. The king's advisors, Danetello and Montecello, are against the marriage because they think Genoa will be controlled by Florence, and they in turn will lose their influence. However, if they openly oppose the marriage, the king would throw them out, so they had to prevent the marriage with more subtle means. It so happened that Dulcenia didn't love Fabio and didn't want to marry him anyway. However, she couldn't openly oppose her father's wishes. Montecello, Danetello, and Dulcenia concoct a plan to prevent the marriage. When Fabio comes to collect his bride, Dulcenia will announce that another has asked for her hand in marriage and challenges Fabio. When Fabio asks who, she'll point to the jester Yorick. Fabio will be so offended, he'll stomp out, and that'll be the end of it. Meanwhile, out in the forest, the infamous thief, the Black Fox, tells his minions of a plan to steal King Aurelas' treasure. He'll pay the jester to trade places with him. Dressed in the jester's costume, complete with a mask, he'll get into the king's court. One of the Black Fox's minions, Pontormo, heads to Genoa. He runs into the jester Yorick, and tells him that a man coming by is going to pay him to borrow his clothes, so he could be the jester for awhile. Later, Yorick runs into the simple shepherd Antonio. Yorick says, "You're the man who wants to be jester for a while? Here, you can borrow my clothes for two days." Antonio is surprised but agrees. He dresses up in the full jester costume with the mask. Later, the Black Fox comes by, sees Antonio, and offers him money to borrow his clothes. Antonio just says, "They're not mine", and walks off. Later, all of the court is gathered in the throne room and waiting for Fabio. Fabio makes a grand entrance, proclaims his love for Dulcenia, and asks for her hand in marriage. Dulcenia says, "You are not the only one to have asked for my hand. You have a rival who wishes to challenge you." Everyone is surprised. "Who?" asks Fabio, angrily. "The jester", proclaims Dulcenia, and points to Antonio. Everyone is astonished. The king orders Antonio thrown in the dungeon for insolence, and apologizes profusely to Fabio, who reluctantly agrees to go ahead with the wedding. Dulcenia, Montecello, and Danetello are disappointed. Later Danetello meets his old friend Pontormo, who knowing Danetello wouldn't care if the king is robbed, confides that the jester is really the Black Fox. Danetello tells Montecello, who figures out a way to salvage the situation. It's common knowledge that the Black Fox is the best swordsman in Italy. If he were to actually duel Fabio over Dulcenia's hand in marriage, Fabio would surely be killed, which would prevent the marriage between Fabio and Dulcenia. The only problem is that only someone of noble birth can challenge someone of noble birth to a duel, and the Black Fox is currently only a jester. Montecello goes to the king, and suggests that the king knight the jester, so the jester and Fabio can duel, so Fabio can defeat him. That would put to rest any challenge to the marriage, and erase all memory of the embarrassing incident. Also, for Fabio to show off his swordsmanship would provide high entertainment for the wedding celebration. The king refuses, but Montecello does convince him to release the jester on the condition that he leave Genoa. Montecello thinks of a plan to get the king to knight the jester. That evening, the princess will be traveling to the mansion of one of her ladies for a prenuptial ball. Montecello and Danetello will dress up like robbers and attack her carriage. Then the jester will chance by, rush in, and save her life. The king will be so impressed, he'll knight the jester. Montecello tells Antonio to do this for the purpose of ingratiating himself to the king to get back inside the castle. Antonio agrees to try to make up for whatever wrong he may have done in the king's eyes. That night, when the carriage is on the way back to the castle, Montecello, Danetello, and Antonio lay in ambush. Montecello and Danetello are disguised as robbers with hoods over their heads and fake beards. They jump out from behind the bushes and attack the carriage. They overpower the coachman and the guard, and threaten Dulcenia. Then Antonio leaps out and drives off the robbers. Dulcenia and Antonio go back to the castle, and Dulcenia tells her father the whole story. The coachman and guard confirm it. The king is impressed and decides that it would not be so ridiculous to knight the jester. There is an elaborate ceremony in which Antonio is dubbed "Sir Yorick". Afterwards the king tells Montecello and Danetello that he would not have knighted the jester if it wasn't for the fact that the jester will doubtlessly be killed by Fabio, and then Fabio and Dulcenia will be married. Prince Fabio learns that the jester has been knighted so that it would now be possible for him to duel the jester. Fabio arrives thinking he can easily dispatch the jester and claim Dulcenia. Montecello and Danetello bring Antonio out, not telling him what's going to happen. Antonio doesn't find out until he's handed the sword and the duel begins. Antonio is no match for Fabio. Pretty soon, Fabio is chasing Antonio around the room. Fabio is just about to kill Antonio when Dulcenia rushes up to him. She screams, "Don't kill him! He saved my life!" Fabio said that he has to kill him since the jester challenged him and he accepted the challenge. The king calls a recess to the duel, saying that it will resume that evening. The king and Dulcenia are not surprised by what happened since they think Antonio is the jester Yorick. Montecello and Danetello are very much surprised since they think Antonio is the Black Fox. Montecello and Danetello are trying to explain what happened. Montecello says, "Are you sure that he's the Black Fox?" "Pontormo told me himself. I'm certain." "I didn't notice it before, but now that I think of it, he doesn't look like Yorick. He's of slighter build. It must be the Black Fox." "Why would the Black Fox let Prince Fabio beat him like that. He's the greatest swordsman in Italy." "It must be because he doesn't want to blow his cover. However, if he had a choice between revealing his identity and dying, he'll choose the former. When the fight resumes tonight, he'll dispatch the prince." Meanwhile Dulcenia is pleading with her father to grant the jester a reprieve. The king said that rules were rules, and that he can't capriciously overturn centuries of law. If he did, all laws would be meaningless. Later, Montecello talks to Dulcenia. She says she's in love with the jester whom she calls "Yorick". Montecello asks why. "He saved my life." "He didn't really save your life. That was fake. We staged that so your father would knight him." "You weren't there." "Actually I was. I was one of the robbers." "He was so brave facing Fabio." "There's nothing brave about being chased around, begging for mercy." "You're just jealous." "Jealous of what?" "I'm going to marry him." "You can't marry him." "You should be happy. Isn't that what you want? For me to not marry Fabio?" "Yes, but you don't want to marry the jester." "Why not? He's a good man." "He's not a good man." "How dare you!" "He's the Black Fox, the notorious thief." "What?" "Ask him yourself." Dulcenia storms out but then goes to see Antonio. "Yorick? I want to thank you again for saving my life." "Oh forget it. Will you help me get out of here before the duel starts again?" "I want you to be completely honest with me." "Yes of course." "I heard a rumor that you are not who you say you are." "Oh?...Oh?...uh...really?" "It's silly of course but I do need some reassurance." "I don't want to get into any trouble, or any more trouble than I'm already in, I never meant any harm, I really do have to get out of here." "If you care for me you'll answer honestly. Are you the Black Fox?" "What?" "You're not him are you? It's hard to imagine that a simple jester could fight off those robbers the way you did." "What? No of course not." "Swear it." "I hereby swear on the Bible, by heaven and Earth, I am not the Black Fox." "I knew you would never deceive me." "Yeah well, I..." She plants a kiss on his lips, and skips off. Pontormo returns to the capital after having been in the countryside. He runs into Prince Fabio. Pontormo recognizes from his clothes that he's not from here, and asks him where he's from. Fabio is put off by this riffraff but answers disdainfully, "I'm Prince Fabio of Florence." "What brings you here?" "I'm here to marry Princess Dulcenia." "If you're going to marry her for her money, you'd better hurry up." "What?" "They're going to receive a visit from the Black Fox." "And how do you know this?" "That's not for you to know, but I know what I know." "And what is it you know?" "I know that the Black Fox has assumed the guise of the court jester." "What?" "You didn't hear it from me of course." "That's impossible! The jester can't handle a sword!" "Well obviously, if he's disguised as the jester, he's going to act like the jester and not himself." "I don't believe you." "Believe what you like, but his identity will be revealed in due time." Pontormo walks off. Events up to that point had been so strange that Fabio was inclined to believe it. Obviously, to fight the Black Fox to the death would be suicide. That evening, the duel was to resume. They had to drag Antonio into the room. All the court was gathered. Antonio stood there cowering and quivering as they waited for Fabio. Finally Fabio arrived. Fabio announced, "I will not fight this man." Everyone was astonished. The king stammered, "You have no choice. You accepted his challenge. This is a fight to the death." "I'm sorry your majesty. I must return to Florence." "Why?" "Family emergency." "You dishonor your family with your cowardice." "I am not a coward. I see no honor in murdering this harmless jester." "He challenged you." "I'm sorry. I must take leave. I'm sorry my princess." Fabio leaves. Everyone is stunned. Fabio didn't want to reveal that he knew the jester was the Black Fox since that would imply that he was somehow complicitous in the crime. The king announces, "According to the law, if someone accepts a challenge, and then withdraws, the challenger wins automatically. Fabio and Yorick were fighting over my daughter's hand in marriage, and Yorick won by forfeit. I hereby declare that my daughter will marry Yorick." Suddenly, Yorick emerges from the crowd, rushes up, and says, "Why thank you sire. I'm here to claim my bride." The king points to Antonio, and says, "Who is this?" Montecello says, "This is the Black Fox." Everyone gasps in horror. I wish I could make an exception to the law but if I did, everyone would ignore the law when they found it inconvenient. I hereby declare that my daughter will marry the Black Fox." Suddenly, the Black Fox leaps into the room, and says, "It is I, the Black Fox. I am here to claim my bride." "What?" says the king. "What?" cry Montecello and Danetello. The king pulls off Antonio's hat and mask. "Who the devil are you?" There's an awkward silence. "I'm Antonio, the simple shepherd." "What are you doing here?" "I don't know. I'm not certain." The king says, "I hereby declare that my daughter will marry Antonio." Antonio turns to Dulcenia. "You don't have to marry me if you don't want to." "I love you, whoever you are. You saved my life." "I didn't really save your life. You were in no danger." "If I were in danger, you would have saved me, right?" "...uh...of course" Dulcenia kisses Antonio. The wedding festivities continue. Shepherd, jester, thief, knight, and prince Antonio is married to the beautiful princess Dulcenia. An incidental repercussion to this chain of events was that Genoa remains a sovereign nation instead of becoming a puppet of Florence. Thus the kingdom was saved.