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''King John and the Bishop'' is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index 302. It tells how King John, covetous of the bishop of Canterbury's wealth, compels him on pain of death to answer three impossible questions. The bishop's shepherd appears in disguise to substitute in his place, and answers the questions cleverly in riddle fashion, after which the appeased king rewards the shepherd and spares the bishop. Like the ballad, historical King John had a reputation of confiscating property from the clergy.〔, in commentary to the ballad: "..when (John ) had taken a Mind to any Man's Estate, (especially a Churchman's, for those he frequently chased)" it would have been out of character for him to as allow as much as three days to his victim, or so the anthologist has heard from skeptics who felt the ballad must have originally featured some other monarch.〕 The ballad is classified as Aarne-Thompson folktale type "AT 922" of the shepherd substituting for the priest to answer the king's questions (For analogues, see §Parallels). Analogues are widespread, some of them being literary works dating to medieval times. ==Synopsis== King John in the opening lines is described as a man did much wrong and did little to uphold what was right. Enraged that the bishop (variant B, the abbot) of Canterbury maintained a household with many servants and riches paid by comfortable income, the king summons him to court, accuses him of treason, threatening him with beheading and the confiscation of income afterwards, unless the cleric can correctly answer three questions: *-How long it takes to travel the whole world? *-How much money am I worth? *-What am I thinking? The king sends the bishop off, allowing a thinking period of twenty days (B, three days).〔In A he then rides to Oxford and Cambridge seeking learned men to give him the right answer, only to be derided. In B he rides straight to his country home.〕 The distressed bishop returns to his shepherd (who in A is his own half-brother), and confides his dilemma. The shepherd says, "Lend me your clothes, I will deliver the correct answers for you". The disguised shepherd then meets King John. His answers are: *-A twenty-four hour day. If you rise in the morning and follow the sun's movement the whole day long, until you wait for the sun to come up in the same place the following morning. Then you'll have traveled the world around. *-Judas sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. You are worth almost as much as Christ. You are worth 29 pieces of silver. *-You are thinking I am the bishop of Canterbury. In fact I am a shepherd in disguise. Impressed by the clever response, the king offers the appointment of the shepherd as bishop. This the shepherd diffidently declines, at which the king awards him a monetary pension, and a pardons the bishop as well.〔In B, the pension is four pounds per week, which calculates to a larger sum. In A, the king offers 300 pounds a year, the brother offers 50 more, and the shepherd declares he no longer will tolerate keeping sheep for his brother.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「King John and the Bishop」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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