Into the ring of the door he put his finger, and turned it, and looked in, and there he saw the mare and the bear standing as on the day before and neither of them eating. In Jack steps. “And no wonder, poor creatures,” says he,.“you don’t eat, when that is the way the Giant blundered,” he says, after he saw the meat before the mare and the hay before the bear this time also.
Jack then changed the food, putting the hay before the mare and the meat before the bear as it should be, and very soon both the mare and the bear were eating heartily; and then Jack went out. He closed the door, and when he did so, his finger stuck in the ring; and pull and struggle though Jack did, he could not get it out.
“Och, och, och,” says Jack, says he, “I am a dead man to-day surely.”
He whips out his knife, and cuts off his finger, and leaves it there, and ’twas there when the Giant came home that night.
“Well, Jack, my fine boy,” says he, “how have you got on to-day?”
“Oh, finely, finely,” says Jack, says he, holding his hands behind his back all the same.
“Show me your hands, Jack,” says the Giant, “till I see if you wash them and keep them clean always.” And when Jack showed his hands, the Giant got black in the face with rage, and says he. “Didn’t I forgive you your life yesterday for going into that stable, and you promised never to do it again, and here I find you out, once more?”
The Giant ranted and raged for a long time, and then says he, “Because your father’s father did my father such a good turn, I suppose I will have to spare your life this second time; but, Jack,” says he, “if you should live for a hundred years, and spend them all in my service, and it you should then again open that door and put your foot into my stable, that day,” says he, “you will be a dead man as sure as there is a head on you. Mind that!”
Jack, he thanked the Giant very much for sparing his life, and promised that he never, never would again disobey him.
The next morning the Giant had Jack up early, and told him he was going off this day to fight the Giant at the other end of the world, and gave Jack his directions, and warned him just as on the other days. Then he went into the stable before he went away. And when he was gone, Jack went through all the house, and through the whole yard, setting everything in order, and when everything was done, he stood before the stable door.
“I wonder,” says Jack, “how the poor mare and the poor bear are getting along and what the Giant of the Hundred Hills was doing here to-day? I should very much like,” says he, “to take one wee, wee peep in,” and he opened the door.
Jack peeped in, and there the mare and the bear stood looking at each other again, and neither of them taking a morsel. And there was the meat before the mare and the hay before the bear, just as on the other days.
“Poor creatures,” says Jack, “it is no wonder you are not eating, and hungry and hungry you must be.” And forward he steps, and changes the food, putting it as it should be, the hay before the mare and the meat before the bear, and to it both of them fell.
And when he had done this, up speaks the mare, and “Poor Jack,” says she, “I am sorry for you. This night you will be killed surely; and sorry for us, too, I am, for we will be killed as well as you.”
“Oh, Oh, Oh!” says Jack, says he, “that is terrible. Is there nothing we can do?”
“Only one thing,” says the mare.
“What is that ?” says Jack.
“It’s this,” says the mare; “put that saddle and bridle on me, and let us start off and be away, far, far from this country, when the Giant comes back.” And soon Jack had the saddle and bridle on the mare, and on her back he got to start off.
“Oh!” says the bear, speaking up, “both of you are going away to leave me in for all the trouble.”
“No,” says the mare, “we will not do that. Jack,” says she, “take the chains and tie me to the bear.”
Jack tied the mare to the bear with chains that were hanging by, and then the three of them, the mare and the bear and Jack, started, and on and on they went, as fast as they could gallop.
After a long time, says the mare: “Jack, look behind you, and see what you can see.”
Jack looked behind him, and “Oh!” says he, “I see the Giant of the Hundred Hills coming like a raging storm. Very soon he will be on us, and we will all three be murdered.”
Says the mare, says she, “We have a chance yet. Look in my left ear, and see what you can see;” and in her left ear Jack looked, and saw a little chestnut.
“Throw it over your left shoulder,” says the mare.
Jack threw it over his left shoulder, and that minute there arose behind them a chestnut wood ten miles wide. On and on they went that day and that night; and till middle of the next day, “Jack,” says the mare, “look behind you, and see what you can see.”
Jack looked behind him, and “Oh!” says he, “I see the Giant of the Hundred Hills coming tearing after us like a harvest hurricane.”
“Do you see anything strange about him, Jack?” says the mare.
“Yes,” says Jack, says he, “there are as many bushes on the top of his head, and as much fowl stuck about his feet and legs as will keep him in fire-wood and flesh for years to come. We are done for this time, entirely,” says poor Jack.
“Not yet,” says the mare; “there is another chance. Look into my right ear, and see what you can see.”
In the mare’s right ear Jack looked, and found a drop of water.
“Throw it over your left shoulder, Jack,” says the mare, “and see what will happen.”
Over his left shoulder Jack threw it, and all at once a lough sprung up between them and the Giant that was one hundred miles wide every way and one hundred miles deep.
“Now,” says the mare, “he cannot reach us until he drinks his way through the lough, and very likely he will drink until he bursts, and then we shall be rid of him altogether.”
Jack thanked God, and on he went. It was not long now until he reached the borders of Scotland, and there he saw a great wood.
“Now,” says the mare and the bear, “this wood must be our hiding-place.”
“And what about me?” says Jack.
“For you, Jack,” says the mare, “you must push on and look for employment. The castle of the King of Scotland is near by, and I think you will be likely to get employment there; but first I must change you into an ugly little hookedy-crookedy fellow, because the King of Scotland has three beautiful daughters, and he won’t take into his service a handsome fellow as you, for fear his daughters would fall in love with you.”
Then the mare put her nostrils to Jack’s breast and blew her breath over him, and Jack was turned into an ugly little hookedy-crookedy fellow.
“Jack,” says the mare, “before you go, look into my left ear, and take what you see there.”
Out of the mare’s left ear Jack took a little cap.
“Jack,” says she, “that is a wishing-cap, and every time you put it on and wish to have anything done, it will be done. Whenever you are in any trouble,” the mare says, “come back to me, and I will do what I can for you, and now good-bye.”
So Jack said good-bye to the mare and to the bear, and set off. When he got out of the wood, he soon saw a castle, and walked up to it and went in by the kitchen. A servant was employed scouring knives. He told her he wanted employment. She said the King of Scotland would employ no man in his house, so he might as well push on. But Jack insisted that the King would employ him, and at length the girl consented to go and let the King know.
When the girl had gone away, Jack put on his wishing-cap and wished the knives and forks scoured, and all at once the knives and forks, that were piled in a stack ten yards high, were scoured as brightly as new pins; and though the King of Scotland did not want to employ him, when he found how quickly Jack had scoured all the big stack of knives and forks, he agreed to keep him. But first he brought down his three daughters to see Jack, so that he could observ
e what impression Jack made upon them. When they came into the kitchen and saw the ugly little fellow, every one of the three fainted and had to be carried out.
“It is all right,” says the King; “we will surely keep you,” and Jack was employed, and sent out into the garden to work there.
Now at this time the King of the East declared war on the King of Scotland. The King of the East had a mighty army entirely, and he threatened to wipe the King of Scotland off the face of the earth.
The King of Scotland was very much troubled and he consulted with his Grand Adviser what was best to be done, and his Grand Adviser counseled that he should at once give his three daughters in marriage to sons of kings, and in that way get great help for the war. The King said this was a grand idea.
So he sent out messengers to all parts of the world to say that his three beautiful daughters were open for marriage. In a very short time the son of the King of Spain came and married the eldest daughter, and the son of the King of France came and married the second, and a whole lot of princes came looking for the youngest, who was the most beautiful of the three and whose name was Yellow Rose; but she would not take one of them, and for this the King ordered her never to come into his sight, nor into company, again.
Yellow Rose got very downhearted, and spent almost all her time now wandering in the garden, where the Hookedy-Crookedy was looking after the flowers, and she used to come around again and again, chatting to Hookedy-Crookedy. And so it was not long until Hookedy-Crookedy saw that the Yellow Rose was in love with him, and he got just as deeply in love with her, for she was a beautiful and charming girl.
The next thing the Grand Adviser counseled the King was that he should send his two new sons-in-law, the Prince of Spain and the Prince of France, to the Well of the World’s End for bottles of loca to take to battle with them, that they might cure the wounded and dead men. Loca was a liquid that cured all wounds and restored the dead to life. So the King ordered his sons-in-law to go to the Well of the World’s End and bring him back two bottles of loca.
The Yellow Rose told Hookedy-Crookedy all about this, and when he had turned it over in his mind, he said to himself, “I will go and have a chat with the mare and the bear about this.”
So off to the woods he went, and right glad the mare and the bear were to see him. He told them all that had happened, and then he told them how the King’s two sons-in-law were to start to the Well of the World’s End the next day, and asked the mare’s advice about it.
“Well, Jack,” says the mare, “I want you to go with them. Take an old hunter in the King’s stable, an old bony, skinny animal that is past all work, and put an old straw saddle on him, and dress yourself in the most ragged dress you can get, and join the two men on the road, and say that you are going with them. They will be heartily ashamed of you, Jack, and your old horse, and they will do everything to get rid of you. When you come to the cross-roads, one of them will propose to go in and have a drink; and while you are chatting over your drink, they will propose that the three of you separate and every one take a road by himself to go to the Well of the World’s End, and that all three shall meet at the cross-roads again, and whoever is back first with the bottle of water is to be the greatest hero of them all. You agree to this. When they start on their roads, they will not go many miles till they fill their bottles from spring wells by the roadside and hurry back to the meeting-place, and then continue on home to the King of Scotland and give him these bottles as bottles of loca from the Well of the World’s End. But you will be before them. After you have set out on the road, and when you have gone around the first bend, put on your wishing-cap and wish for two bottles of loca from the Well of the World’s End, and at once you will have them.” And then the mare directed Jack fully all that he was to do after.
Jack thanked the mare, and bade goodby to her, and went away.
The next day, when the King’s two sons-in-law set out on their grand steeds to go to the Well of the World’s End, they had not gone far when Jack, in a ragged old suit and sitting on a straw saddle on an old white skinny horse, joined them and told them he too was going with them for a bottle of loca. Right heartily ashamed were they of Jack and ready to do anything to get rid of him.
By and by, when they came to where the road divided into three, they proposed to have a drink, and as they set off to drink they proposed that each take a road for himself, and whoever got back first with a bottle of loca would be the greatest hero. All agreed, and each chose his own road and set out.
When Jack had got around the first bend, he put on his wishing-cap and wished for two bottles of loca from the Well of the World’s End, and no sooner had he wished than he had them; and back again he came, and when the other two came riding up, surprised the were to find Jack there before them. They said that Jack had not been to the Well of the World’s End and it was no loca he had with him, but some water from the roadside.
Said Jack, “Take care that is not your own story. Just test them; when the servant comes in, you cut off his head and then cure him with water from your bottles.”
But both refused to do this, for they knew the water in their bottles could not cure anything, and they defied Jack to do it.
“Very soon I will do it,” said Jack.
So when the servant came in with the bottles of loca, Jack drew his sword and whipped his head off him, and in a minute’s time, with two drops from one of his bottles, he had the head on again.
Says they to Hookedy-Crookedy, “What will you take for your two bottles?”
Says Jack, “I will take the golden balls of your marriage pledge, and also you shall allow me to write something on your backs.”
And they agreed to this. They handed over to Jack the two golden balls that were their marriage tokens, and they let Jack write on their bare backs; and what Jack wrote on each of them was, “This is an unlawfully married man.” Then he gave them the bottles of loca, and they brought them to the King, and Jack returned to his garden again.
He did not tell the Yellow Rose where he had been and what doing, only said he was away on a message for her father. As soon as the King got the bottles of loca, he gave orders that his army should move to battle the next day.
The next morning early Jack was over to the wood to consult the mare. He told her what was going to happen that day. Says the mare, “Look in my left ear, Jack, and see what you will see.”
Jack looked in the mare’s left ear, and took out of it a grand soldier’s dress. The mare told him to put it on and get on her back. On he put the dress, and at once Hookedy-Crookedy was transformed into a very handsome, dashing young fellow, and off went Jack and the mare and the bear, the three of them, away to the war. Every one saw them, and they admired Jack very much, he was such a handsome, clever-looking fellow, and word was passed on to the King about the great Prince who was riding to the war -- himself, the mare, and the bear. The King came to see him, too, and asked him on which side he was going to fight.
“I will strike no stroke this day,” says Jack, “except on the side of the King of Scotland.”
The King thanked him very heartily, and said he was sure they would win. So they went into the battle with Jack at their head, and Jack struck east and west and in all directions, and at every blow of his sword the wind of his stroke tossed houses on the other side of the world, and in a very short time the King of the East ran off, with all his army that were still left alive. Then the King of Scotland invited Jack to come home with him, as he was going to give a great feast in his honor; but Jack said no, he could not go.
“They don’t know at home,” said Jack, “where I am at all” -- and neither they did -- “so I must be off to them as quickly as possible.”
“Then,” says the King, “the least I can do is to give you a present. Here is a table-cloth,” says he, “and every time you spread it out you will have it covered with eating and drinking of all sorts.”
Jack took it, and thanked him, and rode away
. He left the mare and the bear in their own wood, and became Hookedy-Crookedy again, and ran back to his garden. The Yellow Rose told him of the brave soldier that had won her father’s battle that day.
“Well, well,” says Jack, says he, “he must have been a grand fellow entirely. It is a pity I was not there, but I had to go on a message for the King.”
“Poor Hookedy-Crookedy,” says she, “what could you do if you were there yourself?”
Jack went to the wood again next morning, and consulted with the mare.
“Jack,” said the mare, “look in the inside of my left ear, and see what you will see,” and Jack took out of her left ear a soldier’s suit, done off with silver, the grandest ever seen, and at the mare’s advice he put the suit on, and mounted on her back, and the three of them went off to the battle. Every one was admiring the beautiful, dashing fellow that was riding to the battle this day, and word came to the King, and the King came to speak to him and welcomed him heartily.
He said, “Your brother came with us the last day we went into the battle. Your brother is a very handsome, fine-looking fellow. What side are you going to fight on?”
Says Jack, “I will strike no stroke on any side but yours this day.”
The King thanked him very heartily, and into the battle they went with Jack at their head, and Jack struck east and west and in all directions, and the wind of the strokes blew down forests in the other end of the world, and very soon the King of the East, with all his army that were still alive, drew off from the battle.
Then the King thanked Jack and invited him to his castle, where he would give a feast in his honor. But Jack said he could not go, for they did not know at home where he was, and they would be uneasy about him until he reached home again.
Donegal Fairy Tales Page 5