all fools in town on
our side, ain’t that big enough
a majority?
From the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
In the scene, the grifters, the King and Duke are arguing about overstaying their welcome too long with a family they have convinced they are long lost relatives.
Not only have they talked their way into the family but into the will of the recently dead, Peter Wilks, and they stand to walk away with the bulk of the dead man’s fortune.
But the Duke second thoughts about they whole deal and has to be convinced again.
Mr. Twain writes “the king he talked him blind; so at last he give in, and said all right, but said he believed it was blamed foolishness to stay.”
This leads the King to say, “What do we k’yer? Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”
I feel that somehow I know just how Mr. Twain felt when he thought up these lines.
I also feel like I know someone who could be described as Mr. Twain described the Undertaker about whom was written, “He was the softest, glidingest, stealthiest man I ever see; and there warn’t no more smile to him than there is to a ham.”
No Haiku For You 