Jack was once so dissatisfied at home as a result of his father’s wrongdoing that he decided to flee and seek his fortune in the huge world. He kept sprinting till he couldn’t anymore, and then he collided with a little elderly woman gathering sticks. He was out of breath to ask forgiveness, but the woman was pleasant, and she said he appeared like a decent young man, so she would hire him as her servant and pay him well. He accepted since he was starving, and she took him to her cabin in the woods, where he served her for a year and a day.
She called him after a year had gone and told him she had good earnings for him. So she gave him an ass from the stable, and as he brayed, silver sixpences, half crowns, and golden guineas rained down from his lips.The lad was pleased with the wage he had gotten, and he rode along till he arrived at an inn. He requested the best of everything there, and when the innkeeper refused to serve him until he paid first, the lad walked to the stable, plucked the ass’s ears, and retrieved his pocket full of cash.
The host had been watching everything through a crack in the door, and at night he had his own ass for the poor youth’s beloved Neddy(Ass). So, without realizing that anything had changed, Jack rode away to his father’s house the next morning.
Now, I must inform you that a poor widow with an only daughter lived close his home. The youngster and the damsel had become fast friends and lovers, but when Jack requested his father for permission to marry the girl, he was told, “Never until you have the money to keep her.”
“I have that, father,” said the youngster, and walking to the ass, he tugged its long ears; well, he pulled, and he pulled, until one of them came off in his hands; but Neddy, despite hee-hawing and hee-hawing, let no half crowns or guineas fall. With a hay-fork in hand, the father chased his kid out of the house. I can assure you that he bolted. Oh, he ran and ran till he slammed his head against the door, which blew open, and he found himself in a joiner’s shop. “You’re a promising boy,” the joiner replied, “service me for a year and a day and I’ll pay you well.” As a result, he agreed to work for the carpenter for a year and a day.
Jack slung the table over his shoulder and rode it all the way to the inn. “Well, host,” he said, “my dinner today, and the best!” “I’m sorry, but we only have ham and eggs in the house.” Jack yelled, “Ham and eggs for me!” “I’m sure I can do better.— Come, my table, be covered!” The table was quickly set with turkey and sausages, as well as roast mutton, potatoes, and greens. He, not the publican, opened his eyes and said nothing.
That night, he retrieved a table similar to Jack’s from his attic and swapped the two. Jack, who had no idea, tied the worthless table to his back and dragged it home the next morning. He pleaded, “Now, father, may I marry my lass?”
“Not unless you can keep her,” the father responded. “Take a look!” cried Jack. “Father, I have a database that executes all of my commands.” “Let me look at that,” the elderly gentleman said.
The lad placed it in the center of the room and requested that it be covered; nevertheless, the table remained bare. In a fit of wrath, the father snatched the warming pan from the wall and used it to warm his son’s back, causing the child to flee the house howling, running and running until he got to a river and fell in.
A man singled him out and asked him to help him build a bridge across the river; and how do you think he did it? Why, by pitching a tree across; so Jack went to the top of the tree and threw his weight on it, and when the guy rooted the tree up, Jack and the tree-head fell on the far bank. “Thank you,” the man responded, “and now I will pay you for what you have done,” he continued as he tore a limb from the tree and fashioned it into a club with his knife. “Take this stick,” he exclaimed, “and when you say to it, ‘Up stick and bang him,’ it will knock anyone down.”
The youngster was pleased to receive this stick—so off he went to the inn with it, and as soon as the publican emerged, he exclaimed, “Up stick and hit him!” The cudgel burst from his hand and smacked the old publican in the back, pounded his head, bruised his arms, tickled his ribs, until he collapsed on the floor groaning; still, the stick belabored the prostrate man, and Jack refused to call it off until he had recovered the stolen ass and table. Then he sprinted home, the table slung over his shoulders and the stick clutched in his hand. When he came, he saw his father had died, so he dragged his ass into the barn and lashed his ear out to give manager the money.
The community quickly learned that Jack had returned a wealthy man, and all the girls in the place began to tip their hats to him. “Now,” Jack said, “I’m going to marry the richest lass in town; so tomorrow, bring your money in your aprons and come in front of my house.” The next morning, the street was filled of girls holding aprons with gold and silver in them; but among them was Jack’s own sweetheart, who had neither gold nor silver, only two copper pennies.
“Stand aside, lass,” Jack commanded brusquely to her. “Stand apart from the others because you have no silver or gold.” She did what she was told, and tears streamed down her cheeks, filling her apron with diamonds. “Up stick and bang them!” screamed Jack, as the cudgel leaped up and ran along the line of females, knocking them all out and leaving them motionless on the sidewalk. Jack put all of their money into his truelove’s lap. “Thou art the richest; lass,” he screamed, “and I shall marry thee.”