The Fable of the Friar’s Toque

When Dejesus found the friar’s toque under the dogfish tree he said the Moor’s Prayer, not quite knowing what to do with the wooly tonsure-cap. When he was a wee farthing boy his great-great granddad told him the fable of the friar’s toque. The toque had been passed down from friar to friar, the first friar having found the toque under a burning dogfish tree in Bucharest. The fable of the friar’s toque was written in Peacock Ninny, an ancient Hungarian tongue spoken in sibilant hisses. His great-great granddad was told the fable of the friar’s toque from his great-great granddad when he was a wee farthing boy. The friar’s toque was worn by the brotherhood of the Friars of Dogfish Monastery, a chattel-wood cloister hidden away in the mountains of Hungary. The friar’s toque was worn by the head friar to signify his closeness to God and rightsideup angels. The toque allowed the friar to hear the Word of God unfettered with interpretation and bad manners. The friar’s toque was the Ham Radio to God’s Word, free of secular static and caballing. When Dejesus came across the friar’s toque under the dogfish tree he pulled it tight over his ears and waited, not a Word, just a faint gibbering of voices, one voice saying to the others, ‘…Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale, ‘tis time to plot the comeuppance’. He lay the friar’s toque back under the dogfish tree and ran like a scared altar boy, his ears burning with heresy.