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Jack and his
Comrades nce there was a poor widow,
as often
there has been, and she had one son. A very scarce summer came, and
they didn't
know how they'd live till the new potatoes would be fit for eating. So
Jack said
to his mother one evening, "Mother, bake my cake, and kill my hen, till
I go
seek my fortune; and if I meet it, never fear but I'll soon be back to
share it
with you." So she
did as he asked her, and he set out at break of day on his journey. His
mother came
along with him to the yard gate, and says she, "Jack, which would you
rather
have, half the cake and half the hen with my blessing, or the whole of
'em with
my curse?" "O
musha, mother," says Jack, "why do you ax me that question? sure you
know
I wouldn't have your curse and Damer's estate along with it." "Well,
then, Jack," says she, "here's the whole lot of 'em with my thousand
blessings
along with them." So she stood on the yard fence and blessed him as far
as
her eyes could see him. Well,
he went along and along till he was tired, and ne'er a farmer's house
he went into
wanted a boy. At last his road led by the side of a bog, and there was
a poor ass
up to his shoulders near a big bunch of grass he was striving to come
at. "Ah,
then, Jack asthore," says he, "help me out or I'll be drowned." "Never
say't twice," says Jack, and he pitched in big stones and sods into the
slob,
till the ass got good ground under him. "Thank
you, Jack," says he, when he was out on the hard road; "I'll do as much
for you another time. Where are you going?" "Faith,
I'm going to seek my fortune till harvest comes in, God bless it!" "And
if you like," says the ass, "I'll go along with you; who knows what
luck
we may have!" "With
all my heart, it's getting late, let us be jogging." Well,
they were going through a village, and a whole army of gossoons were
hunting a poor
dog with a kettle tied to his tail. He ran up to Jack for protection,
and the ass
let such a roar out of him, that the little thieves took to their heels
as if the
ould boy was after them. "More
power to you, Jack," says the dog. "I'm
much obleeged to you: where is the baste and yourself going?" "We're
going to seek our fortune till harvest comes in." "And
wouldn't I be proud to go with you!" says the dog, "and get rid of them
ill conducted boys; purshuin' to 'em." "Well,
well, throw your tail over your arm, and come along." They got
outside the town, and sat down under an old wall, and Jack pulled out
his bread
and meat, and shared with the dog; and the ass made his dinner on a
bunch of thistles.
While they were eating and chatting, what should come by but a poor
half-starved
cat, and the moll-row he gave out of him would make your heart ache. "You
look as if you saw the tops of nine houses since breakfast," says Jack;
"here's
a bone and something on it." "May
your child never know a hungry belly!" says Tom; "it's myself that's in
need of your kindness. May I be so bold as to ask where yez are all
going?" "We're
going to seek our fortune till the harvest comes in, and you may join
us if you
like." "And
that I'll do with a heart and a half," says the cat, "and thank'ee for
asking me."' Off they
set again, and just as the shadows of the trees were three times as
long as themselves,
they heard a great cackling in a field inside the road, and out over
the ditch jumped
a fox with a fine black cock in his mouth. "Oh,
you anointed villain!" says the ass, roaring like thunder. "At
him, good dog!" says Jack, and the word wasn't out of his mouth when
Coley
was in full sweep after the Red Dog. Reynard dropped his prize like a
hot potato,
and was off like shot, and the poor cock came back fluttering and
trembling to Jack
and his comrades. "O
musha, naybours!" says he, "wasn't it the height o' luck that threw you
in my way! Maybe I won't remember your kindness if ever I find you in
hardship;
and where in the world are you all going?" "We're
going to seek our fortune till the harvest comes in; you may join our
party if you
like, and sit on Neddy's crupper when your legs and wings are tired." Well,
the march began again, and just as the sun was gone down they looked
around, and
there was neither cabin nor farm house in sight. "Well,
well," says Jack, "the worse luck now the better another time, and it's
only a summer night after all. We'll go into the wood, and make our bed
on the long
grass." No sooner
said than done. Jack stretched himself on a bunch of dry grass, the ass
lay near
him, the dog and cat lay in the ass's warm lap, and the cock went to
roost in the
next tree. Well,
the soundness of deep sleep was over them all, when the cock took a
notion of crowing. "Bother
you, Black Cock!" says the ass: "you disturbed me from as nice a wisp
of hay as ever I tasted. What's the matter?" "It's
daybreak that's the matter: don't you see light yonder?" "I
see a light indeed," says Jack, "but it's from a candle it's coming,
and
not from the sun. As you've roused us we may as well go over, and ask
for lodging." So they
all shook themselves, and went on through grass, and rocks, and briars,
till they
got down into a hollow, and there was the light coming through the
shadow, and along
with it came singing, and laughing, and cursing. "Easy,
boys!" says Jack: "walk on your tippy toes till we see what sort of
people
we have to deal with." "Wasn't
that a fine haul we made at the Lord of Dunlavin's!" says one
ugly-looking
thief with his mouth full, "and it's little we'd get only for the
honest porter!
here's his purty health!" "The
porter's purty health!" cried out every one of them, and Jack bent his
finger
at his comrades. "Close
your ranks, my men," says he in a whisper, "and let every one mind the
word of command." So the
ass put his fore-hoofs on the sill of the window, the dog got on the
ass's head,
the cat on the dog's head, and the cock on the cat's head. Then Jack
made a sign,
and they all sung out like mad. "Hee-haw,
hee-haw!" roared the ass; "bow-wow!" barked the dog; "meaw-meaw!"
cried the cat; "cock-a-doodle-doo!" crowed the cock. "Level
your pistols!" cried Jack, "and make smithereens of 'em. Don't leave a
mother's son of 'em alive; present, fire!" With that they gave another
halloo,
and smashed every pane in the window. The robbers were frightened out
of their lives.
They blew out the candles, threw down the table, and skelped out at the
back door
as if they were in earnest, and never drew rein till they were in the
very heart
of the wood. Jack and
his party got into the room, closed the shutters, lighted the candles,
and ate and
drank till hunger and thirst were gone. Then they lay down to rest; —
Jack in the
bed, the ass in the stable, the dog on the door-mat, the cat by the
fire, and the
cock on the perch. At first
the robbers were very glad to find themselves safe in the thick wood,
but they soon
began to get vexed. "This
damp grass is very different from our warm room," says one. "I
was obliged to drop a fine pig's foot," says another. "I
didn't get a tayspoonful of my last tumbler," says another. "And
all the Lord of Dunlavin's gold and silver that we left behind!" says
the last. "I
think I'll venture back," says the captain, "and see if we can recover
anything." "That's
a good boy!" said they all, and away he went. The lights
were all out, and so he groped his way to the fire, and there the cat
flew in his
face, and tore him with teeth and claws. He let a roar out of him, and
made for
the room door, to look for a candle inside. He trod on the dog's tail,
and if he
did, he got the marks of his teeth in his arms, and legs, and thighs. "Thousand
murders!" cried he; "I wish I was out of this unlucky house." When he
got to the street door, the cock dropped down upon him with his claws
and bill,
and what the cat and dog done to him was only a flay-bite to what he
got from the
cock. "Oh,
tattheration to you all, you unfeeling vagabones!" says he, when he
recovered
his breath; and he staggered and spun round and round till he reeled
into the stable,
back foremost, but the ass received him with a kick on the broadest
part of his
small clothes, and laid him comfortably on the dunghill. When he
came to himself, he scratched his head, and began to think what
happened him; and
as soon as he found that his legs were able to carry him, he crawled
away, dragging
one foot after another, till he reached the wood. "Well,
well," cried them all, when he came within hearing, "any chance of our
property?" "You
may say chance," says he, "and it's itself is the poor chance all out.
Ah, will any of you pull a bed of dry grass for me? All the
sticking-plaster in
Enniscorthy will be too little for the cuts and bruises I have on me.
Ah, if you
only knew what I have gone through for you! When I got to the kitchen
fire, looking
for a sod of lighted turf, what should be there but an old woman
carding flax, and
you may see the marks she left on my face with the cards. I made to the
room door
as fast as I could, and who should I stumble over but a cobbler and his
seat, and
if he did not work at me with his awls and his pinchers you may call me
a rogue.
Well, I got away from him somehow, but when I was passing through the
door, it must
be the divel himself that pounced down on me with his claws, and his
teeth, that
were equal to sixpenny nails, and his wings — ill luck be in his road!
Well, at
last I reached the stable, and there, by way of salute, I got a pelt
from a sledge-hammer
that sent me half a mile off. If you don't believe me, I'll give you
leave to go
and judge for yourselves." "Oh,
my poor captain," says they, "we believe you to the nines. Catch us,
indeed,
going within a hen's race of that unlucky cabin!" Well,
before the sun shook his doublet next morning, Jack and his comrades
were up and
about. They made a hearty breakfast on what was left the night before,
and then
they all agreed to set off to the castle of the Lord of Dunlavin, and
give him back
all his gold and silver. Jack put it all in the two ends of a sack and
laid it across
Neddy's back, and all took the road in their hands. Away they went,
through bogs,
up hills, down dales, and sometimes along the yellow high road, till
they came to
the hall-door of the Lord of Dunlavin, and who should be there, airing
his powdered
head, his white stockings, and his red breeches, but the thief of a
porter. He gave
a cross look to the visitors, and says he to Jack, "What do you want
here,
my fine fellow? there isn't room for you all." "We
want," says Jack, "what I'm sure you haven't to give us — and that is,
common civility." "Come,
be off, you lazy strollers!" says he, "while a cat 'ud be licking her
ear, or I'll let the dogs at you." "Would
you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's head,
"who
was it that opened the door for the robbers the other night?" Ah! maybe
the porter's red face didn't turn the colour of his frill, and the Lord
of Dunlavin
and his pretty daughter, that were standing at the parlour window
unknownst to the
porter, put out their heads. "I'd
be glad, Barney," says the master, "to hear your answer to the
gentleman
with the red comb on him." "Ah,
my lord, don't believe the rascal; sure I didn't open the door to the
six robbers." "And
how did you know there were six, you poor innocent?" said the lord. "Never
mind, sir," says Jack, "all your gold and silver is there in that sack,
and I don't think you will begrudge us our supper and bed after our
long march from
the wood of Athsalach." "Begrudge,
indeed! Not one of you will ever see a poor day if I can help it." So all
were welcomed to their heart's content, and the ass and the dog and the
cock got
the best posts in the farmyard, and the cat took possession of the
kitchen. The
lord took Jack in hands, dressed him from top to toe in broadcloth, and
frills as
white as snow, and turnpumps, and put a watch in his fob. When they sat
down to
dinner, the lady of the house said Jack had the air of a born gentleman
about him,
and the lord said he'd make him his steward. Jack brought his mother,
and settled
her comfortably near the castle, and all were as happy as you please. |