The Fool and The Fisher King

Although there are many interpretations of what the Grail is, the most common is that it was the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. It is believed by some to have been brought to Britain by Joseph of . The Grail became the principal quest of Knights of the Round Table in King Arthur's Court.

A central figure in some tales is the Fisher King. His story:

A prince comes of age. To claim his Kingdom, he must spend the night in a forest alone. While there, he has a vision of the Grail and a voice tells him he will guard it. "It will heal men's hearts", it says. The King, filled with self-importance, grabs for it. It then vanishes and the King is afflicted with a wound that never heals. The wound was physical (a burn), mental (derangement) and emotional (misery). Although he doesn't know it, the Grail is still with him. He just can't see it.

Finding the Grail becomes the Fisher King's obsession but none of his knights are able to bring it to him. Ultimately, he shuts himself up in his castle to die. He is miserable, in great pain and alone.

One day, a Fool, (a court jester), comes to him. He sees not a King but a suffering man and asks what is wrong. "I'm thirsty", the Fisher King says. The Fool grabs the Grail, fills it with water and hands it to him. The Fisher King is instantly healed. He quickly realizes that he holds the Grail. "How did a Fool find what none of my knights could?" he asked. "I don't know", the Fool answered, "I only knew that you were thirsty."

Arthurian legends as we know them were created by Geoffrey of . The first Tarot deck appeared a few hundred years later. The characters of both reflect Medieval social structure.

The polar opposites of Medieval society were the King and The Fool. These are central to both the legend of the Fisher King and the Tarot. Each card in the Tarot deck relates to The Fool card and the cards of each suit relate to their King. We see in the deck what the Fool does in his lifetime and what he learns from it. The Fool has many possibilities and among these is becoming King.

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