Purposeful deceptions of the April fool

Western Folklore, Summer 2002 by McEntire, Nancy Cassell

Thirty years ago, when buckles were worn in shoes, a boy would meet a person in the street with--"Sir, if you please, you shoe's unbuckled," and the moment the accosted individual looked towards his feet, the informant would cry--"Ah, you April Fool! " Twenty years ago, when buckles were wholly disused, the urchin-cry was-"Sir, your shoe's untied." . . . Now, when neither buckles nor strings are worn, because in the year 1825 no decent man "Has a shoe to his foot [the boot is the fashion]," the waggery of the day is -"Sir, there's something out of your pocket." "Where?" "There!" "What?" "Your hand, sir -Ah! You April fool!" (Hone 1826, 1:410)

According to Hone, "one subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions that are to end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the persons sent. . . . The laugh is always in proportion to the trouble given." he recalls a fools' errand that was popular in France:

A lady relates that the day [April Fools' Day] is further marked in Provence by every body, both rich and poor, having for dinner, in some form or other, a sort of peas peculiar to the country, call pois chiches [chickpeas].9 While the convent of the Chartreaux was standing, it was one of the great jokes of the day to send novices thither to ask for these peas, telling them that the father were obliged to give them away to any body who would come for them. So many applications were made in the course of the day for the promised bounty, that the patience of the monks was at. last usually exhausted, and it was well if the vessel carried to receive the peas was not thrown at the head of the bearer. (Hone 1826, 2:486)

In other fools' errands, the victim is sent for a left-handed screwdriver or wrench, a board-stretcher, a stick with one end, a bucket of striped paint, a bucket of steam, pigeon milk, a jar of elbow grease, a book called The Life of Adam's Father or The Adventures of Eve's Mother, or a fallopian tube; after receiving a false alarm, he or she will run anxiously to the police station to pay a nonexistent fine. An English girl recalls the following prank that involved both verbal and physical tricks:

We played a trick on a boy aged about six. We told him to ask the man in the shop how much the long stand was and he said that he did not sell furniture, "but if you would like a long stand you can stand there as long as you like." (Opie and Opie 1959:245)

The April Fools' prank is bound temporally, and reminders of the boundary are well understood by pranksters and fools alike. It is generally understood that pranks on April 1st are best accomplished in the morning, when potential fools are less apt to be aware of the date. When appropriate pranking time has ended, you run the risk of becoming a fool yourself if your tricks continue (Palmer and Lloyd 1972:132; Hole 1976:22; Green 1991:38). Folklorist Brian Sutton-Smith notes that New Zealand school children adhere strictly to the "code" of completing their pranks before the noon hour. The child who pulls a prank too late is more of a fool than the intended victim:10