Lazy Jack

There was once a boy called Jack who lived with his mother. They were very poor. His mother earned her living by spinning thread, while Jack spent the summer lying in the sun and the winter sitting beside the fire. It was hardly surprising that everyone called him Lazy Jack.

One Monday, his mother announced that she had had enough. Unless he began working for his food, he would have to leave home and look after himself.

This persuaded Jack to make an effort. On Tuesday, he hired himself out to a neighbouring farmer for a penny. He had never owned any money before, and on the way home he lost his wages while crossing a stream.

“You silly boy,” his mother said. “You should have put it in your pocket.”

“I’ll do that another time,” Jack replied.

On Wednesday, he went to work for a man who kept cows. Instead of money, the man gave him a jar of milk. Jack remembered the advice he had received the previous evening and put the jar into the large pocket of his jacket. Long before he reached home, every drop had spilled.

“Dear me!” his mother exclaimed. “You should have carried it on your head.”

“I’ll do that another time.”

On Thursday, a farmer agreed to pay him with some soft cheese. When evening came, Jack placed the cheese on his head and set off for home. Some of it fell off on the way; the rest became so mixed up with his hair that it was no use to anyone.

His mother told him that he should have carried it carefully in his hands. Jack promised to follow her instructions next time.

On Friday, he worked for a baker, who would give him nothing for his trouble except a large male cat. Jack held the animal carefully in his hands. Before long, however, it had scratched him so badly that he was forced to let it go.

“You should have tied a string round it and led it along behind you,” said his mother.

As usual, Jack promised to do so another time.

Saturday brought a job with a butcher and a fine piece of meat as payment. Jack tied a string round it and dragged it along the road. By the time he got home, it was covered in dirt and completely ruined. His mother’s patience ran out: the following day was Sunday, and now she would have to make do with cabbage for dinner.

“You should have carried it on your shoulder!” she told him.

On Monday, Jack worked for a man who kept cattle and was given a donkey. Getting it onto his shoulders was far from easy, but he managed it at last and started slowly home.

Along his route lived a rich man whose only daughter could neither hear nor speak. She had never laughed, and her doctors said she would not speak until somebody made her laugh. Her father had promised her hand in marriage to whoever achieved this.

The young woman happened to be looking out of her window as Jack passed, bent under the donkey’s weight, with its legs sticking up into the air. The sight was so extraordinary that she burst into laughter. Immediately, she could hear and speak.

Her father was overjoyed and kept his promise. Jack married the young woman and became a wealthy gentleman. They lived in a large house, where Jack’s mother spent the rest of her life in comfort and happiness.