The Origins of April Fools'

Leon Stevens

April 1

The Origin of April Fools'

The first recorded prank was discovered deep in a cave in the Pyrenees, where a cave painting shows a club being notched and weakened, then lower on the wall a saber tooth tiger is seen eating the arm of a Neanderthal, with a severed lower limb nearby.

Professor Dingall remarked, "Well, Henson. I guess that prank cost him and arm and a leg!"

Farther in, past the famous handprints were several connected half circles, the precursor to sitting on the Xerox machine.

In Greek mythology, Icarus loosened the top of the saltshaker which caused his father to ruin his breakfast. Enraged, he stormed out of the kitchen muttering under his breath, "I'm gonna get that little SOB." A year later, Icarus's father convinced him that flying to the sun was achievable. Touche.

The next recorded prank took place in Egypt where a worker, Apphool, was asked to retrieve an adz in the newly constructed anti-chamber upon which the booby trap was triggered and the room was permanently sealed.

When discovered in 1911, hieroglyphics on the wall showed the first record of giving someone the bird, and what for many years was assumed to be a bouquet of flowers. Later experts determined it was in actual fact meant to indicate a bunch of assholes.

In 1367, teenagers snuck into the construction site at Pisa and removed several of the foundation stones, replacing them with replicas made of papier mâché.

Galileo has been credited for the "shoe polish on the telescope eyepiece" prank, which was why he was imprisoned, not for the whole "the Earth goes around the sun" malarkey.

One of the first prank fails occurred when Gustave Eiffel was told there was a contest to see who could build the tallest tower out of a Meccano set, the winner receiving a free pass to the next World Exposition.

And finally, the best prank award goes to the archeologist who tricked a Nazi general into peeking into a golden chest, cementing into history the now classic line:

"Made ya look."

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/