The Fool is one of the 78cards in atarot deck. Traditionally, it is the lowest of the 22trump cards, in tarot card reading called the 22Major Arcana. However, intarot card games it developed to be not one of the (then 21) trump cards but a special card, serving a unique purpose by itself. In later Central European tarot card games, it re-developed to now become thehighest trump. As a consequence and with respect to his unique history, The Fool is usually an unnumbered card with a unique design; but sometimes it is numbered as0 (the first) or more rarely XXII (the last). Design and numbering-or-not clearly indicate its role as a trump or special card in the specific game.[citation needed]
The Fool is titledLe Mat in theTarot of Marseilles, andIl Matto in most Italian language tarot decks. Thesearchaic words mean "the madman" or "the beggar".
In the earliest tarot decks, the Fool is usually depicted as a beggar or a vagabond. In theVisconti-Sforza tarot deck, the Fool wears ragged clothes and stockings without shoes, and carries a stick on his back. He has what appear to be feathers in his hair. His unruly beard and feathers may relate to the tradition of thewoodwose orwild man. Another early Italian image that relates to the tradition is the first (and lowest) of the series of the so-calledTarocchi of Mantegna. This series of prints containing images of social roles,allegorical figures, and classical deities begins withMisero, a depiction of a beggar leaning on a staff.[1] A similar image is contained in the GermanHofämterspiel; there the fool (German:Narr) is depicted as a barefoot man in robes, apparently with bells on his hood, playing abagpipe.[2]
The Tarot of Marseilles and related decks similarly depict a bearded person wearing what may be ajester's hat; he always carries a bundle of his belongings on a stick (called a bindle) slung over his back. He appears to be getting chased away by an animal, either a dog or a cat. The animal has torn his pants.[3]
In the Rider–Waite deck and other esoteric decks made forcartomancy, the Fool is shown as a young man, walking unknowingly toward the brink of a precipice. In theRider–Waite Tarot deck, he is also portrayed as having with him a small dog. The Fool holds a white rose (a symbol of freedom from baser desires) in one hand, and in the other a small bundle of possessions, representing untapped collective knowledge.[4]
InFrench suited tarot decks that do not use the traditional emblematic images ofItalian suited decks for the suit oftrumps, the Fool is typically made up as a jester orbard, reminiscent of theJoker often included with thestandard 52-card deck.
In the decks before Waite–Smith, the Fool is almost always unnumbered. There are a few exceptions: some old decks (including the 15th-centurySola Busca) labelled the card with a 0, and the 18th-century Belgian decks labelled the Fool as XXII.[5] The Fool is almost always completely apart from the sequence of trumps in the historic decks. Still, there is historic precedent for regarding it as the lowest trump and as the highest trump.
Traditionally, theMajor Arcana in tarot cards are numbered withRoman numerals. The Fool is numbered with thezero, one of theArabic numerals.
The fool may be the precursor ofThe Joker.[6] However, the Joker more likely evolved independently in the 1850s as a permanent trump specifically for the game ofEuchre.[7]
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In tarot card reading, the Fool is usually considered part of the Major Arcana. This is not true intarot card games; the Fool's role in most games is independent of both the plain suit cards and the trump cards, and the card does not belong to either category. As such, most tarot decks originally made for game playing do not assign a number to the Fool indicating its rank in the suit of trumps; it has none. Waite gives the Fool the number 0, but in his book discusses the Fool betweenJudgment, no. 20, andThe World, no. 21. The only traditional game deck that numbers the Fool 0 is theTarocco Piemontese. Since the 1930s,Tarot Nouveau decks often use a black invertedmullet as the corner index for the Fool.[8][9] In almost all tarot games, the Fool is one of the most valuable cards.
In most tarot games originating from Italy and France, the Fool has a unique role. In these games, the Fool is sometimes called "the Excuse". Tarot games are typicallytrick taking games; playing the Fool card excuses the player from eitherfollowing suit or playing atrump. At the end of the trick, the player then takes back the Fool and adds it to their own trick pile and (in most games) gives the trick's winner the least valuable card from that same pile. If there are no cards to give in exchange, the Fool is worth one point less and an extra point is given to the trick-taker. Or, at the end of the hand, it can be awarded to a player or team that has won all the tricks. Usually the Fool can't be captured but in some games it can be won in the last trick which may yield a scoring bonus.[citation needed]
In a minor variant option ofFrench tarot, a player dealt trump 1 but with no other trumps or the Fool can make trump 1 behave the same as the Fool (petit imprenable).[10] However, in official tournament rules, a player in this situation must declare their hand and force a redeal (petit sec).
The 18th-centuryPiedmontese game of Sedici and its variants treated the Fool as the lowest trump.[11] Unlike most games, the Fool is worth only one point. This is similar to the role of theMiseria trump inSicilian tarocchi.
In most Central European Tarock games, the Fool, orSküs, is simply played as the 22nd trump, making it the highest trump in such games.[12] InKönigrufen, the Fool can be captured but only if it is played in the same trick with trumps 21 and 1 in which case trump 1 wins; this is called the Emperor's trick or Fairytale trick.[13] InHungarian Tarock, the player that loses trump 21 to the Fool traditionally has to wear a silly hat.[14]
InFrench tarot andDroggn, the Fool is an excuse but in a rare circumstance it will be the highest trump. If the player who holds the Fool has won all the previous tricks, in the last trick the Fool becomes the highest trump.[15]
InTroggu, the Fool is the highest trump but if it is the last trump in the player's possession, the player can elect to throw in another card instead of following suit. Once this occurs, the Fool is no longer a trump but an excuse that must be reserved for the last trick.[16]
Before and after trick-play ofTarocchini, theMatto (Fool) and theBégato are calledcontatori (counters), a limited form ofwild cards.[17] They can be used separately or together to fill missing gaps in combinations or extend them but they can't fill in two consecutive gaps in sequential combinations.[18] They can't replace the highest trump or kings. Both cards can be used in every sequence but as the Fool can't be captured while the Magician is vulnerable, the player holding the Magician would want to use it only judiciously.[19]
InGrosstarock games, of which Danishtarok is the last survivor, the Fool can take the place of a missing card during declarations before play. However, ameld completed using the Fool is worth only half the points compared to a natural meld. Also, when leading a trick the Fool can turn into the weakest card of any suit the player chooses but it will be sent to the player's trick pile just like an excuse. If, however, the opponents lack the suit named, then they may get the right to set the trick's suit.[20]
In many esoteric systems oftarot card interpretation, the Fool is interpreted as the protagonist of a story, and the Major Arcana are the path the Fool takes through the great mysteries of life. This path is known traditionally in cartomancy as the "Fool's Journey", and is frequently used to introduce the meaning of Major Arcana cards to beginners.[21][22]
According toA. E. Waite's 1910 bookThe Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Fool card is associated with:
Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy,bewrayment. [If the card is] Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.[23]
The Fool is encoded intoUnicode with the code point U+1F0E0, as part of theplaying cards Unicode block.[24]
| Preview | 🃠 | |
|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | PLAYING CARD FOOL | |
| Encodings | decimal | hex |
| Unicode | 127200 | U+1F0E0 |
| UTF-8 | 240 159 131 160 | F0 9F 83 A0 |
| UTF-16 | 55356 56544 | D83C DCE0 |
| Numeric character reference | 🃠 | 🃠 |
Media related toFool (Major Arcana) at Wikimedia Commons
Learning materials related toTarot#The Fool at Wikiversity| Occultists | |||||||||
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| Major Arcana numbered cards |
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| Fool as the excuse |  | |
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| Fool as highest trump | ||
| Related games |
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| Packs (French suits) | ||
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| Related articles | ||
This article incorporates text from thepublic domain 1910 bookThe Pictorial Key to the TarotbyArthur Edward Waite. Please feel free to update the text.
