DESCRIPTION

The Fool sports an outfit made of patched pants, a green vest, sewn-on sleeves, and a three-feathered hat. Oblivious to the meaty lobster riding on his back, he bends forward, engaged with a local canine in a mouth-to-mouth struggle over a pale, slender bone. Imagine an unshaven Bruce Willis in a scarecrow suit, a femur clamped between his choppers, straining to pull it from the mouth of a hungry dog ... and you'll see the Fabulous Fool in all his dubious glory.

IMPRESSIONS

True to the tone of the deck as a whole, the Fabulous Tarot depicts the Fool with a dash of treacherous whimsy. Earlier decks render him as a vagabond, a madman, or -- more kindly and recently -- an optimistic youth. This Fool, though, is a man on a mission, so intent on his marrow-laden meal he neglects to notice the monstrous crustacean between his own shoulder blades.

Here, then, is another dimension of Foolishness ... innocence gone rancid, simple-mindedness perpetuating poverty, and singular focus giving rise to blindness.

This ogre of a Fool would toss Waite's prissy lad over the cliff, rummage through his sack for goodies, and pick his teeth with the stem of the boy's clean, white rose.

AN ORIGINAL MEDITATION ON THIS CARD

Here we go -- zero again.
Having come full circle,
Reject the rules.
Suck the marrow from
Life's bones!
Dig in your heels for the long haul:
Twenty-one more trumps to go.

Boiling the lobster on
Your back makes more sense
Than your skeletal snack,
But Fools refuse to
Run with the pack.

This time around:
Every Fool for himself!

DIVINATORY MEANINGS TRANSLATED FROM THE LWB

The Fool indicates irresponsibility, restlessness, abandonment of logic, frivolity, freedom from morality, immorality, folly.