THINK TALES COLLECTION

JEROME THE
TRICKSTER
SirhajwanIdek

Jerome the Trickster

nce upon a time, there was a boy
Jerome, the son of a well-known

called
witch in the

kingdom. He was good-natured

but

extremely mischievous. Being a

son

powerful witch, Jerome inherited a remarkable

of

magical

power from his mother.

However, his mother was not really fond of him for she wanted a daughter
to be a witch just like her. Jerome felt sad that his own mother did not
really care about him. Therefore, he usually roamed around the kingdom
and performed magical mischief and pranks on the people. Most of the
time, he made people laugh and nobody minded being tricked by Jerome for
he was adorable and friendly. He kept everybody amused with his jokes and
pranks. In fact, he usually performed for the villagers in the town and even
the king and queen in the castle.
Nevertheless, his mother did not like what

Jerome

had

been doing in the kingdom. His mother always

felt that he

liked to waste time playing tricks and pranks rather

than learning

witchcraft and magic so he could become a

wizard.

powerful

One day, the kingdom was shocked by the news of a villager who
claimed that he had barely managed to save himself from being
eaten by a dragon. The villager said that the dragon breathed fire
into his carriage and then tossed it into the river nearby. The
dragon saw him swimming in the river and wanted to eat him.
Luckily, he managed to run into the bush and the

dragon

lost

sight of him.
On the following days, there were more and

more

villagers reporting to the king of their horrible

encounters with the dragons. A fisherman said
had quickly jumped into the water when he saw

that
the

he

dragon

and he stayed in the water until the dragon left. However, the dragon had
burnt his boat to ashes and eaten all the fish he had caught. Another man
said that he saw the dragon flying above his house. He hid in the basement
and he came out after he no longer heard the dragon. He was shocked to
find out that his house had been ransacked and ruined by the dragon. The
king grew more worried as he heard of these incidents from the villagers.
The king immediately announced the news to the people and
he claimed that he would reward the person who could defeat
the dragon. Jerome at once raised his hand and volunteered to
confront the dragon and defeat it. Jerome felt that he could
prove to his witch mother that he was capable of doing
something useful and meaningful even if he was not practicing
witchcraft and magic. Apart from Jerome, there were two
more volunteers, a wizard and a knight. The entire kingdom
celebrated the departure of the three brave men who dared to face the
dragon.

The wizard summoned his flying carpet and flew to the dragons lair with it.
As he reached the cave where the dragon stayed, he called the dragon and
declared his intention of challenging the dragon to a fight. The dragon
came out and the wizard chanted his spell to change the dragon into a rat.
However, the dragon was a powerful magical being, therefore, a direct
curse of witchcraft did not work on it. The dragon flew to the wizard and
breathed fire onto his flying carpet. The carpet was burnt and the wizard
fell to the ground. He was so scared that he ran as fast as possible to the
woods.
The knight decided to ride his horse and reached the cave right after the
wizard ran away. The knight mocked the dragon for using its fire to defeat
the wizard. The knight challenged the dragon to fight with its strength.
The knight took out his sword and raised it up to the sky. The dragon
snatched the sword, threw it onto the ground and trampled it into pieces
with its feet. The knight was then unarmed and he too ran quickly to the
woods.
Jerome arrived late to the cave as he was the only one who walked to the
destination. Jerome knew that the wizard and the knight failed to defeat
the dragon. The wizard had futilely used witchcraft against the dragon
which was more magically powerful than any other being and the knight had
tried to use his strength against a bigger and stronger opponent. Thus, he
decided to use his wit against the dragon.
Jerome told the dragon that he did not want to challenge it but he had
three questions he wanted it to answer. He pointed a big rock nearby and
asked the dragon Dear dragon, I heard you are strong and hard, I wonder
whether your head is harder than this rock? asked Jerome. The dragon
decided to knock his head repeatedly on the rock but the rock did not
crack. In fact, his head bled and he had become dizzy. He could no longer

see clearly or walk properly. He demanded that Jerome ask him the second
question. Jerome asked the second question Dear dragon, I heard you
could eat anything in the world, I wonder whether you could eat this rock?
asked Jerome. The dragon at once swallowed the rock and the rock went
through his throat and reached his stomach. He became so
thirsty that he immediately ran to the river and drank as much
water as possible so that he could no longer breathe fire. The
dragon vainly asked for the third question for it had been
embarrassed twice by Jerome. Jerome took a stone and threw it
into the river, the stone dropped into the bottom of the river. Dear
dragon, the stone is hard but it clearly could not match the river for it fell
right into the bottom, I wonder whether you could stay afloat above the
water? asked Jerome. The dragon furiously jumped into the river. The
dragon was already heavy, and as it had been made heavier by the rock it
had swallowed and the water it had drunk, the dragon was immediately
drowned.
Jerome went back to his kingdom and told everybody that he had defeated
the dragon. He told them that he did not use his magic or his strength, but
he used his wit to defeat it. His mother was surprised that Jerome could
defeat a powerful dragon and she finally realized that Jerome was an
incredible boy. She told Jerome that she regretted neglecting him and
doubting his capabilities. Jerome forgave his mother and they were
reconciled after years of a distant and cold relationship. The entire
kingdom was so happy that Jerome had managed to defeat the dragon and
that his mother had finally accepted him. Jerome might have not been a
powerful wizard but he was surely a shrewd trickster.

Trickster

No man can fool the sole trickster,

For tricks and ploys he is the master,
He is the ultimate undefeatable prankster,
Preying on his victims like a great hunter.

His twist of truth is a flawless deception,

His tweak of reality is an impeccable distortion,
His persuasion is an absolute extortion,
His repertoire of lies is beyond exception.

But trickster has never been into any prison,

Although he exploits logic and reason,
He never dares to commit a real treason,
For he is just an ordinary person.

Activities
Basic Questions
Answer all four questions
1. Why did Jerome volunteer to challenge the dragon?

2. What did Jerome do that the knight and wizard didnt do which
helped him to defeat the dragon?
3. Why didnt Jeremy use magic to beat the dragon when he inherited
great magical power from his witch mother?
4. Why do mothers usually set certain expectations for their children to
achieve when they grow up?

Thinking Maps
Answer one of these questions
1. Use a circle map to describe how powerful the dragon was.
2. Use a bubble map to explain the characteristics of Jerome.
3. Use a double bubble map to compare and contrast the characteristics
of Jerome and the dragon.
4. Use a tree map to show the development of the story especially how
the dragon was challenged and finally defeated.
5. Use a tree map to classify the characters of Jerome, the knight and
the wizard.
6. Use a multi-flow map to describe the causes and effects of the
witchs treatment of her son, Jerome.
Thinking Hats
Answer all six questions
1. How did the dragon cause panic among the people in the kingdom?

2. How would you feel if you were Jerome and you were not taken
seriously by your mother?
3. What were the best parts of the story?
4. What was the main aspect of the story that you dislike?
5. What are other ways that the dragon could be defeated, apart from
the trick that Jerome played?
6. Why do you think Jerome volunteered to challenge and defeat the
dragon?

SCAMPER
Choose one of the questions below and use your creativity to do a new
version of the story.
1. Substitute the dragon with another creature. How would he defeat
the creature?
2. Combine Jeromes ability with any special ability that you would love
him to have. What would it be and how would he use it?
3. Eliminate his witch mother from the story. What kind of mother he
would have?
4. Adapt the story to be in a different setting where it takes place
during the present day and there is no magic or magical creature.
What kind of challenges that Jerome needs to face in order to prove
himself to his mother.
Three StoreyIntellect
Answer all three questions

1. What does a trickster like to do?

2. Compare and contrast tricksters with criminals? How are they similar
and how are they different?
3. Why do you think people develop the tendency to deceive others?
Q-Matrix
Answer all three questions
1. Why did Jeromes mother look down on her son at the beginning of the
story?
2. Why would Jerome need to prove himself to his mother by accepting
the challenge to defeat the dragon?
3. What might have happened if Jerome failed to take down the dragon?
Thinkers keys
Answer all three questions
1. Think of other ways of how to beat the dragon.
2. What if there were actually more dragons in the area. How would the
villagers protect themselves from the dragons?
3. Create five questions in which the answer is trick.