The Jack Tales Page 12

  So Jack went to huntin’ and inquirin’ for King Marock. Couldn’t nobody tell him a thing about where the King’s house was.

  Then Jack met up with Old Man Freezewell, and Jack asked him, “Do you know where King Marock lives at?”

  “No,” Freezewell told him, “but I’ll do ever’thing I can to help ye find him.”

  Freezewell went and froze ever’thing over real hard that night. Next mornin’ he came to Jack, says, “I couldn’t find the King, Jack, but I found an old man knows where his girls wash at. Now, this old man keeps beer, and I’ve frozen all his beer up, and he’s mad, but you take this here little rod and go ask him for a drink of beer. He’ll tell ye it’s all froze, and then you thaw it for him, and that’ll please him, and he’ll tell ye where King Marock’s girls’ washin’ place is at.”

  Freezewell told Jack where that old man’s house was located, and Jack thanked him, and went on up there and asked the old man for some beer.

  The old man says, “Hit won’t come. All my beer froze up last night.”

  Jack took that little rod and tapped all the barrels with it and the beer thawed and the old man was plumb tickled. So him and Jack drawed some beer and sat down and went to drinkin’.

  Then Jack asked him, says, “Do you know where King Marock lives at?”

  “No,” says the old man, “but I know where his girls wash of a Saturday.”

  So he told Jack where it was, and that Saturday evenin’ Jack went down to the river and through the bresh till he came to a deep pool out there one side of a cliff. There was a log there where they went in the water and Jack got over behind it and laid down in the leaves.

  The girls came along pretty soon, took off their greyhound skins and laid ’em on that log. Then they went down in the water and commenced washin’ around and washin’ around. Jack reached up and pulled the youngest ’un’s greyhound skin off the log and held on to it. They came out the water directly and the two oldest girls put on their skins and was gone, and Jack couldn’t tell which way they went nor nothin’. The youngest looked around for where she’d laid her greyhound skin and couldn’t find it and couldn’t find it, and fin’ly Jack stood up.

  “You give me my skin now.”

  “Take me home with you and I will.”

  “Oh, no, daddy would kill me.”

  “Take me to the gate, then.”

  “Oh, no, I’d be afraid to do that even, but I’ll take you in sight of the house.”

  Jack gave her the skin and she put it on. Then she got out a solid gold needle and told Jack to take it and prick his finger on the point three times. Jack did that and the girl took him by the hand and they rose right straight up in the air and went flyin’ along over the tops of the mountains. Jack had an awful good time doin’ that.

  Well, he saw a big house directly and the girl says to him, “Yonder it is. You better light now and come in a-walkin’.”

  So she went flyin’ on and Jack lit. He walked on up to the gate, and there was King Marock settin’ on a bench under a shade bush.

  “Good evenin’, King Marock.”

  “Oh, hit’s you, is it? How’d you find me?”

  “Old man told me.”

  “Come on in and set down.”

  Jack went in and he and King Marock sat there and talked till the girls called ’em to supper. They went in the house and pulled up to the table. The girls had the finest kind of supper fixed up.

  Ever’thing you could think of that was good to eat was there on the boards.

  “Just reach now and help yourself,” says King Marock, “if you find anything you can eat. Just make yourself right at home.”

  Jack’s mouth was just a-waterin’. He was awful hungry.

  “Well, girls,” he says, “your supper sure does look good. It sure Lord does!”

  Time Jack said that there wasn’t a thing on the table but dishwater. King Marock looked right hard at Jack and got up and left.

  Then the youngest girl told Jack, says, “You mustn’t ever mention the Lord around here, Jack.”

  Jack said he’d be sure not to do that no more, and then the girl told him, says, “He aims to kill ye, Jack, if you can’t do whatever work he gives ye. Now tomorrow there’ll be a thicket to clear and he’ll give ye an old axe and a new one and you be sure to take the old axe. You get up before he does tomorrow mornin’ and be settin’ in front of the fire when he comes in.”

  II

  Well, next mornin’ Jack was up real early and had the fire goin’ and was settin’ there smokin’ when King Marock walked in. So they cooked breakfast and eat, and then King Marock took Jack out and showed him a big thorny bresh thicket.

  “Now, Jack,” he says, “my grannie lost her gold ring in that field there ’fore that bresh growed up. You find that ring by tonight or I’ll kill ye and put your head on a spear.”

  And he handed Jack two axes, an old one and a new one. Jack looked at ’em and took the new one. Then King Marock was gone and Jack went to work on that bresh, but ever’ time he cut out a place it growed back twice as thick. He’d go to another place and light into it with the axe, but the same thing ’uld happen. Jack kept on hackin’ away first on one side that field, then on another till the sweat just poured, and about twelve o’clock that thicket was twice as big as when he started. Then that girl came out. She had the old axe in her hand.

  “How you gettin’ on, Jack.”

  “Only fairly well,” says Jack.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked him.

  “Ever’ time I cut a lick,” Jack says, “hit looks like twice as much grows back up.”

  “Why didn’t ye take the old axe, like I told ye?”

  “Hit looked so rusty and brickle I was afraid it ’uld break.”

  Well, she handed Jack the old axe and he took it and time he’d cut three licks with it that field was plumb cleared, all but one little locust. Jack walked over to it and there was that ring on one of its branches. Jack got it off and laid that old axe there against the little tree.

  “Now,” the girl told him, “you stay on here till dark and then you come on in and give him the ring. Tomorrow there’ll be a well to dreen and he’ll give ye an old bucket and a new one, and you be sure to take the old bucket.”

  Jack came in after dark and handed King Marock the ring.

  “You found it, did ye?” says the King. “Surely some of my people are workin’ against me.”

  “Oh, no, there ain’t,” says Jack.

  Next mornin’ he led Jack out to an old-fashioned home-dug well, says, “Jack, my grannie’s great-grannie lost her thimble in that well and it better come out of there ’fore I get in tonight or I’ll cut your head off and put it on a spear.”

  He handed Jack a new bucket and an old banged-up riddley one. Jack took the old bucket and saw it was full of holes, so he set it to one side and reached for the new one. And King Marock was gone from there and Jack couldn’t tell which way he went.

  That well-water was ’way down when Jack drawed up the first bucketful, but the more he drawed the more the water rose up, till about twelve o’clock it was runnin’ out the top and all over the ground. Jack floundered around slippin’ ever’ which-a-way in the mud and kept on a-throwin’ water till that well got to spoutin’. It like to washed Jack away from there. Then here came the youngest girl, had the old bucket with her.

  “Looks like you ain’t doin’ so well, Jack.”

  Jack admitted it.

  “Why didn’t you take the old bucket, like I told you?”

  “That old leaky thing? Why, hit’s plumb riddled!”

  She handed him that bucket and told him to go on and use it. Jack throwed out water with it once and all the water on top of the ground dried up. Then he dipped it in the mouth of the well and it dried up to where it was when he started in. Then he let the bucket down and pulled it up and looked and the well was dry, and there was that thimble layin’ on the bottom. Jack set the old bucket there ’side the wel
l and the girl tied a rope on him and let him down. He picked up the thimble and out he came.

  “Now,” she says, “tomorrow there’ll be a big stone house to build out of one rock, and he’ll give ye a big sledgehammer and a little rock-axe; and on the peril of your life you take the little rock-axe. You wait here till dark now, ’fore you come to the house with that thimble.”

  Jack waited and came on to the house about dark.

  “Well, Jack, did ye find my great-great-great-grannie’s thimble?”

  Jack handed it to him.

  King Marock he took it and sort of looked around, says, “Surely, surely, some of my people are workin’ against me.”

  “No, there ain’t,” says Jack.

  Next day King Marock took Jack out and showed him a big rock ’side the hill, says, “Jack, you take that rock and bust it and square up the blocks, and by the time I get in tonight you better have me a twelve-story house finished and the stone well dressed, and I want twelve rooms twelve foot square on every story, and if you don’t get it all done by the time I get here I’ll sure kill ye and put your head on a spear.”

  He handed Jack a big sledge and a little bitty rock-axe with a sawed-off handle. Jack looked up at that big rock and took the sledge and King Marock was gone.

  Jack swung that big hammer and tried to block him out some stone. He hammered and he pounded and he sweated, but ever’ lick it seemed like that rock just swelled a little bigger. The sweat got to runnin’ off Jack in a stream and he nearly burnt the handle out of that old sledgehammer.

  That girl she came out there about twelve o’clock, had the little rock-axe in her hand, says, “Looks like you’ve not got many stones dressed.”

  “No,” says Jack, “seems like this rock is sort of hard to bust.”

  “Why didn’t you take the little rock-axe, like I told ye?”

  “I forgot,” says Jack.

  “Here,” she says, and she handed it to him.

  Jack hadn’t struck but three licks with it when that rock just r’ared up in the air and there was a twelve-story house.

  “Now,” the girl told him, “when you see King Marock comin’ in this evenin’, you go and meet him ’fore he gets here. You take him all through that house and he’ll act awful pleased, but when he gets out and turns his back on it, hit’ll not be there no more. Then he’ll start in cussin’ you about it bein’ gone, and you tell him he said for you to get it built, but there wasn’t a thing in his orders about you makin’ it stay built.”

  Jack said he’d do that, and he went to lay the little rock-axe down somewhere, but he got to lookin’ at that house and studyin’ about what-all he had to do, and he stuck the rock-axe in his overhall pocket.

  So Jack he watched for King Marock and when he saw him comin’ he went on out to meet him.

  “Well, Jack, did ye get my house built?”

  “Yes, sir,” says Jack.

  “Doors, windows, roof, and everything?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “How’d you do it?” the old King asked him, and he looked at Jack sort of like he suspected somethin’.

  “Let’s go on up there and look it over,” says Jack, “so you can see does it suit you all right.”

  He took King Marock up to the house, and they went all through it, looked in all the rooms and how pretty they were, all fixed up just like in a ho-tel, and after a while they came on out. The old King looked up at it once more, and then he and Jack turned and started on off. Right then somethin’ went off like a shot-gun behind ’em and when they looked around that house was gone. Wasn’t a thing there but that same old big rock.

  King Marock came up to Jack like he wanted to fight, says, “Where’s my house?”

  “I contracted to build it,” says Jack, “not make it stay built.”

  Well, King Marock looked like he was about to cuss Jack out, but he just sort of shut his mouth to and walked on off a-grumblin’ to himself. Jack hung around awhile and directly he went on to the house.

  King Marock didn’t come to the table for supper, and the youngest girl took Jack out where they wouldn’t be heard and told him, says, “He’ll make you take your choice of us girls tomorrow mornin’, Jack. Which one will you take?”

  “Why, I’ll take you,” says Jack.

  “How’ll you know us apart standin’ side by side with our greyhound skins on?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” says Jack.

  “I’ll lick my tongue out at ye,” she says, “so you’ll know that ’un is me.”

  Next mornin’ the King didn’t come to breakfast. The girls got the dishes all washed up and directly King Marock hollered for Jack.

  Jack came and there stood the three girls with their greyhound skins on. Jack looked and looked, and the old King thought sure he had him that time, hollered, “Choose the youngest ’un, Jack! Pick her out quick or I’ll cut your head off!”

  Jack stepped back and looked at ’em again. The youngest licked her tongue out right quick, and Jack says, “This is the one, I reckon.”

  “All right! All right!” says King Marock, “Take her on! Take her on!”

  III

  And that night, after they’d all gone to bed, that girl came and woke Jack up, says, “He’s done found out it was me helped you and he’s a-fixin’ to kill us both tonight.”

  “What’ll we do?” says Jack.

  “We’ll run away,” she told him. Says, “Now you go to the stable quick and bring down the horse and the mule. You better hurry.”

  Jack ran to the stable and there stood the sorriest-lookin’ old horse and mule you ever saw, nothin’ but skin and bones. The old horse’s head hung so far down Jack had to prop it up to get the bridle on him. The mule was in the same fix, had his head hung ’way down in the bottom of the feed trough with his ears flopped over, and Jack had to push ’em both out the door; he had to lift their feet over the barn sill. He swarped ’em with a stick and kept on beatin’ ’em and fin’ly got ’em to the house. The girl came out with saddles and bridles, a whole new outfit all shined up.

  “I’ll saddle ’em,” says Jack.

  “No,” she says, “I’ll saddle ’em.”

  She throwed the saddle on the horse and when she pulled the girth, there was as fine a ridin’ horse as you’d want, slick as a ribbon and prancin’ and a-r’arin’ to go. Jack had to hold him down. Then she heaved the saddle on the mule and when she tightened up the belly-band, that old skinny mule filled out just as fat as his hide could hold him. Then she got on the mule and Jack jumped on the horse and they lit out.

  “I can’t look back now,” she told Jack. “If I did he’d be able to witch us. You watch behind ye and tell me when you see him comin’.”

  They got on a long stretch of road directly; Jack looked back and saw King Marock a-comin’. He and the girl stopped and she handed him a thorn and told him to jump off quick and stick it in the ground behind ’em. Jack did, and all between them and the King was a big thorn thicket, locusts as big as poplars and blackberry briars big as saplin’s. It was so thick a rabbit couldn’t ’a got through. King Marock had to go back and find that old axe to cut him a way and by that time Jack and the girl got a good gain on him.

  Then Jack looked back again, and there was the old King behind ’em, just a-tearin’ the road to pieces. Jack told the girl and she stopped and handed him a little bottle of water, told him to pour that on the road behind ’em. Jack did it, and there was a wide river between them and the King. He had to go back after that old riddledy bucket to dreen the river off, and by that time they’d gained a right smart on him.

  Jack looked over his shoulder again, and here came old King Marock a-r’arin’ and a-shoutin’ and beatin’ his horse somethin’ terrible. The girl gave Jack a little handful of gravel and told him to throw them down behind, and when Jack did that all the country between them and the King was one great big rocky mountain. King Marock had to turn around and go back to get that little rock-axe to break a way through
, and he hunted and he hunted all over the place for it, but he never did find it ’cause Jack had forgot and stuck it in his pocket.

  So Jack and the girl rode on to the settle-ments to get married. Jack wanted to see his folks first, so they went on to his house.

  “Come on,” says Jack, “let’s go in. They’ll sure be surprised when we tell ’em.”

  “No,” she says, “I’ll not go in yet. I’ll stay here at the gate awhile till you go see ’em first. Now, Jack, when you go in there don’t you let any of ’em kiss you till you come out again. Don’t let nothin’ touch you on your lips, you hear?”

  Jack said All right, and went on in. They were all real glad to see him and his mother went to huggin’ him and tryin’ to kiss him, but he put his hands over his face and laughed and wouldn’t let her come anywhere close to his lips. Then he set down in a chair and was just about to tell ’em all about his girl when his little dog came in the door and saw Jack had come back and ’fore Jack knowed it that dog ran to him and jumped up in his lap and licked him right on the mouth. Jack put the dog on the floor, and when he tried to recollect what he was about to tell his folks he just couldn’t remember a thing about that girl. She waited out at the gate quite a spell; then she guessed what must ’a happened, so she rode on off.

  IV

  Now there was an old shoemaker in that neighborhood, an old man and his wife and their grown girl. They were ugly as bats, all three of’em—real homely people. That girl went and cloomb up in a bush right over the spring at this old shoemaker’s house, and when his girl came to get water she peeped in the spring and saw that other girl’s shadder.