Behind the middle Nut
The Wise One (character in the Foolsbible)
In short
The Wise One is the second voice of the Foolsbible. He answers the Fool almost always in three words – “The Wise One bindeth” – and rarely argues at length.
Three words
After each speech of the Fool comes his refrain, then the Wise One’s answer: “The Wise One bindeth.” What he binds is never said. Readers have taken it as binding wounds, as bridging opposites, as religare – to bind back, hidden in the word religion – and as a nod to the author, who binds the numbered copies by hand.
A name from Wolfenbüttel
The Wise One recalls Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, written at Wolfenbüttel, where according to legend the first Fool’s Bible was kept – so the Fool and the Wise One have shared a roof before.
Questions
What does “The Wise One bindeth” mean?
The book does not explain it. Plausible readings: he binds what the Fool tears apart, binds wounds, binds the reader back. The ambiguity is deliberate.
How often does the refrain occur?
More than two hundred times, as often as the Fool’s refrain.