The five of wands is all about conflict: but both the symbolism and the suit indicate that it's not conflict of a serious or life-changing nature, but more in the nature of a "creative disagreement." The five youths battling each other in the RWS version of this card are clearly not looking to do one another serious damage; it's more like an act of "sport," more along the lines of the group trying to determine which one of them is the Alpha Male. If you like, especially considering the suit, they're trying to find out which one of them has (or is) the Biggest Dick.
In that spirit, I offer two members of the circus sideshow, polar opposites, duking it out for the entertainment and edification of the customers (or "rubes"), They don't really hate each other: it's just What They Do.
"Clem" is the circus term for "fight," specifically the kind of fights that would often break out when a few drunken rubes or townies got together and tried to show the circus people "who was the boss." Hint: Circus Folk more often than not "gave" better than they "got."
-- Freder.
www.ducksoup.me
