Jack and the Faeries

Jack lived with his mother Mary in a small cottage at the bottom of the valley. Jack was a happy, helpful young man and he earned his living selling baskets in the nearby town. He did have a hump on his back but he treated this very lightly. Now Jack's cousin Sammy lived with his mother Margaret in a cottage at the top of the valley. Now Sammy also had a hump on these back, I guess it must have run in the family. But there the similarity ended, for while Jack was happy go lucky and helpful, Sammy was just the opposite, he was always moaning and bone idle, he never wanted to do any work of any description whatever. He would sit in front of the fire all day and demand sandwiches from his mother Margaret. He never wore any shoes or socks and if the fire was burning low he would just pick up a piece of coal with his foot and throw it on the fire.

Now one evening Jack decided to take a walk up the valley. His mother Mary made him a cheese sandwich, she used white bread and Daddies sauce. Mary cut the bread straight across the middle, she was a no-nonsense sort of person. She wrapped the sandwich in greaseproof paper and gave it to Jack. It was a fine night and Jack walked halfway up the valley till he came to a small mound. He sat down and started to eat his sandwich. He looked up and he could see all the stars of the Milky Way, it was a grand evening. And then he began to hear someone playing a tune (King of the Faeries). Then he heard singing.

All the faeries came running round to the other side of the mound. Now the King of the Faeries looked Jack in the eye, you could see he was the King because he was a good head taller than the others and also he had a crown on his head.

So Jack started off back down the valley, and behind him he could hear the faeries singing.

When he arrived back at the cottage he found that his mother Mary had gone to bed. He went upstairs and he lay down in bed, and in no time at all he was fast asleep. When he woke up the following morning he sat up in bed and his back was as straight as a rush, his hump had completely disappeared.

Now Jack was going to town to sell his baskets, his mother looked at him.

But of course, when Jack got to the town all of his fellow tradesmen wanted to know how he'd lost the hump off his back. And in the end, just to satisfy them, Jack told them everything. Now it so happened that Jack's Aunt Margaret was shopping in town and she was very interested in what Jack had to say. When Margaret returned home she told her son Sammy all about Jack's good fortune.

Margaret decided to apply advanced techniques in order to gain Sammy's consent. She took Sammy by the ear and dragged him outside. She took a carpet brush and applied it to Sammy's backside. There was so much dust you could hardly see the sun in the sky. Sammy readily agreed to go down the valley that very evening.

Margaret made Sammy a ham sandwich. She used brown bread and then applied the HP sauce liberally. Margaret cut the bread from corner to corner, she was always rather posh, then she wrapped it in greaseproof paper. Sammy set off down the valley, he stopped when he got to the mound. He sat down and unwrapped his sandwich, he started to eat it. Sammy didn't look up to gaze at all the stars of the Milky Way, it just wasn't his style. And then he began to hear someone playing a tune (King of the Faeries). Then he heard singing.

All of the faeries came running round to the other side of the mound, and they surrounded Sammy. The King of the Faeries looked Sammy straight in the eye.

Sammy picked up some stones and started to throw them at the faeries. They all ran away.

As he was walking back up the valley, he heard the faeries singing.

By the time he got back his mother had gone to bed. He went straight upstairs and lay down on the bed, and in no time at all he was fast asleep. When he woke up the following morning, he couldn't get up. Instead of having one hump on his back he had two. He survived for six months, his mother Margaret had to feed him soup through a straw. When Sammy died he had to be buried in a double sized coffin.

Now I want you to remember this. It's not that the faery folk are immoral it's just that they're amoral. They're just as likely to do you a good turn as they are to do you a bad one. As Sammy found out when he cheeked the faery folk.