Fooled you! Fiction’s biggest pranksters

The first of April is when the pranksters emerge. Repressed all year and forced to hide their talents, springtime becomes their valedictorian moment. Traps are baited and set. The rest of us shriek and cower while the practical jokers take their bows.

Some of the most memorable amongst them are figures from literature. Here are a few fictional pranksters that shocked, scared and startled us.

Roald Dahl’s The Twits

The Twits are a horrible pair of vicious ingrates. This mean old married couple tries to prank each other to distraction. They make each other drink worms, convince each other they are shrinking and try to glue birds to a tree to make them into a pie. Finally, their mistreated monkey pets, the Muggle-Wumps, out-prank their evil masters by gluing the Twits’ furniture to the ceiling. It is a strong contender for the best Roald Dahl book.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is a Shakespearean comedy about twins, Viola and Sebastian, who are separated during a shipwreck. Viola pretends to be a boy. A woman called Olivia falls in love with her. Well-written shenanigans ensue. In the meantime, we get some of Shakespeare’s funniest scenes. A cluster of jokers headed by Olivia’s Uncle Toby convince her steward, Malvolio, that his mistress is in love with him. Malvolio acts increasingly bizarrely following their faked instructions. Finally they announce that he is insane and lock him up. It sounds grim but it is hilarious.

Stephen King, Carrie

This one is genuinely grim. We know about the telekinetic powers of the main character and the revenge she enacts upon the high-school bullies. The actual bullying constitutes one of the more horrible practical jokes encountered in fiction. Two classmates, Chris Hargensen and Billy Nolan, rig a trap. When Carrie and her date are crowned Prom King and Queen, two buckets of fresh pigs’ blood are slopped over them. It is enough to tip anyone over the edge.

Brer Rabbit

Brer Rabbit is a traditional trickster character. The roots of the character trace back to African storytelling and the tales of Anansi the spider. In its southern US incarnation, the character is associated with the representation of slaves rebelling against owners. Most versions of these adventures come via Joel Chandler Harris’s books from the 1870s and later Enid Blyton retellings. Brer Rabbit is a cunning bunny always outwitting Brers Bear, Fox and Wolf.