The story of the ministers’ prank on Andare might be the story with the best and most unpredictable turnover of all the stories of Andare. Coming from Sinhalese folklore from Sri Lanka to the collection of folktales from and around the world, the funny stories of Andare revolve around a court jester. But, unlike many, he was not a fool. He made the king laugh by outsmarting others, including the king. He is attentive, observant, intelligent, talented in composing poetic phrases, and skillful. Most importantly, these stories are suitable as bedtime stories for kids, so obviously as folktales for kids. Here you can enjoy the story of how Andare, the prankster, got pranked. Enjoy!
Once upon a time, there was a man called Andare. He was the jester in the royal court, appointed by the king himself. But, unlike usual jesters, this person was different. Instead of acting the fool and making the king laugh, Andare did pranks, tricked, and gave riddles to others, making fun of their lack of critical thinking. He mocked the ministers, the queen, and even the king himself.
One day, the ministers of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe got together on a not-so-busy day. They had time to talk about not-so-important things due to a lack of duties for the day. So the ministers planned to go for the weekly swim in a pond that was separated only for the king and them.
“Since there are not many duties to do today, isn’t it better if we go for a swim?” one minister suggested.
“Yes. Not a bad idea,” another one replied.
“Not bad at all. The king is relaxing in his chambers. Duties are done for the day. So that’s a nice idea,” another one said.
While they were discussing, they saw Andare passing by.
“Well, well, well. This man, Andare, does his silly pranks all the time. and make us look like fools all the time. We should give him a good return,” a minister said.
“True. Oh, this is going to be interesting. So, what do we do? How do we make him a fool?” A minister asked others.
Everyone thought for a while. A minister came up with an idea.
“Andare is known not to accept his defeat. So, let’s use that against him and make fun of him.”
“Okay. How are we going to do that?” others asked.
“Okay Listen! We go to the pond early and plant five eggs in the mud at the bottom of the pond. Then we take Andare with us for bathing. Since he doesn’t get many chances to bathe there, he will agree to come with us. Once he is comfortable with us and does not suspect us in any way of pranking him, we bet him to make an egg appear out of the pond by diving to the bottom of the pond. Then we dive one by one, take an egg, and show him. Then, finally, we ask him to do what we did if he can. The poor man will have to accept the defeat,” the minister explained.
“That sounds like a good prank,” other ministers agreed.
“Oh, we should invite the king too for a bath with us without telling him any of this. Andare will be a fool in front of the king too,” a minister suggested and others agreed.
One of the ministers asked Andare if he was free in the evening to join them to go for a swim at the pond. The Andare, who had never been to that pond where only the king and the ministers used it, did not see any reason not to take the chance. He said yes. Then the ministers did as they planned. Each of them took an egg to the pond and planted the egg in the mud.
Then in the evening, they went for a swim with the king and Andare. At first, the ministers were all friendly with Andare and had a good swim and bath. Then, after Andare was comfortable with them, one minister asked if Andare could defeat them. Andare, without thinking much, said yes.
“Then we will give you a task. You should be able to do it. We are going to do the same task first. Let’s see if you can do the same,” the minister said.
“Okay, what is the task?” Andare asked.
The minister dove deep into the pond, brought an egg, showed it to Andare and said, “This.“
Then all five of the ministers dove deep, took the egg they planted in the mud and appeared with an egg in their hands. At that moment, Andare knew that the ministers might have planted the eggs before. He realized that they had planned this whole bathing thing to prank him in front of the king.
“Why Andare? Can’t you do the task? Are you thinking of taking the defeat?” a minister asked. All the ministers laughed. And the king was leaning towards a stone slab placed on the bank of the pond and watching the scene with a smile on his face.
Then Andare jumped in the middle of the pond and dove deep. Then he came back to the surface and shouted “Kuk-ku Kook Koo (cock-a-doodle-doo)” three times.
The surprised ministers asked, “What was that? Where is the egg?“.
“Oh, I don’t have an egg. I am the only cock here. You all are the hens.” Andare replied sarcastically.
The king, who was watching this, laughed to tears. The faces of the ministers were blushing out of shyness. They realized that the Andes had just played their own prank on them.