Suzanne Guza, age lI, of DeCatur, Ga., for her question:

Why is New York called Gotham City?

One of the greatest cities in the world is crowded upon a small rocky island in the Hudson River. The early Dutch settlers named it New Amsterdam, but since the l7th century it has been known as New York. Long before all this, the little village of Gotham in England had made a name for itself. Its people were called either the wise men or the fools of Gotham. This was at the time and in the territory of Robin Hood, King John planned to pay Gotham a visit, but its people wanted to avoid the taxes of such a royal visit. They pretended to be idiots and the king stayed away. The fools of Gotham turned out to be very wise men. In colonial days, Washington Irving remembered this tale. In a very funny book called "salamagundi" he referred to New York as Gotham City.  It was his way of saying that certain wiseacre New Yorkers were, in his opinion, both wise and foolish people.