Jack and the Devil's Purse (9 page)

So Jack was awfae pleased to hear this. He stayed another couple of days with his auntie.

And at last he said, ‘Auntie, I’ll have to go back to my mother. I’ve been away for a long, long while.’ At least eight
months had passed since Jack had left his mother, and he was dying to go back again. So he finally had to bid goodbye to his auntie.

And she said, ‘Jack, you’re only a young man yet. And promise you’ll come back and see me again!’

‘Well, Auntie,’ he said, ‘I might and I might not. Naebody kens that.’

‘But give my best to your mother,’ she said, ‘my wee sister. And tell her I’m aa right, and I’m still surviving.’

And Jack bade his old auntie goodbye and took his wee stick under his arm. Away he set, back all the road home. He travelled on and on and on, and after nights and days had passed once again he was back at the king’s palace.

He walked up the steps to the king’s palace with his stick below his oxter. And the king was overjoyed to see him!

The king said, ‘Jack, you’ve been away a long while. Come and have something to eat with me!’

So Jack dined with the king. He said, ‘Jack, did you ever discover what I was telling you about? Did you ever find any answer for me?’

And Jack said, ‘Aye. But listen! Look, you have a young man in prison and I want you to set him free. And you have a young maid who works for your queen. When I tell you the truth, will you promise me something?’

‘Onything,’ says the king, ‘onything, I’ll promise you! If my wife could get one night’s peaceful sleep.’

And Jack said, ‘You sent a young man to the dungeons for stealing your fruit.’

‘That’s true,’ said the king.

And he said, ‘His sister is your queen’s maid.’
^..

‘That’s right,’ said the king, ‘but I didna ken it was
his
sister.’

‘And every night,’ said Jack, ‘she combs your queen’s hair. And her mother has a wee bit o’ the black art.’

‘Oh, I’ll punish her,’ said the king, ‘I’ll punish her!’

‘No,’ says Jack, ‘you’ll no punish her. Otherwise I’ll tell you no more.’

‘Come on then, Jack, tell me,’ he said. ‘And I swear I’ll not do anything about it.’

So, Jack tellt the king. He said: ‘You can sack her, send her on her way. And set the young man free.’

So, Jack tellt the king about the maid tying knots in the queen’s hair. And the king ordered her away from the palace, and he set the young man free. Jack stayed that night with the king in the palace. And for the first time for many, many months the queen had the most beautiful sleep, the most beautiful sleep she had ever had!

‘Now,’ says the king to Jack, ‘how about my tree?’

‘Ah,’ Jack said, ‘that’s simple. Come with me!’

Jack led the king down to the garden at the front of the palace, a beautiful garden of roses. And there in the middle of the garden was a tree completely withered. The leaves were dead, the branches were dead. And Jack reached, put his hand under the soil, under the roots of the tree. He pulled out a sword, a rusty sword.

And he said to the king, ‘
That
was the cause of your tree not bearing fruit.’

And within minutes the tree was blooming. All beautiful green!

The king scratched his head.

‘Jack, Jack,’ he said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life. I’m going to reward you more than ever you’ll need.’

But Jack said, ‘I’ve a long way to go and I cannae carry very much.’

The king said, ‘Well, Jack, you can fill your pockets, can’t you?’

So, Jack filled his pockets with gold from the king and he bade the king farewell. He went on his journey.

He travelled on and he travelled for a couple of days. It was gloamin dark when he saw a wee light by the roadside.

‘Aha, at last,’ he said, ‘I’ll have a rest tonight.’

He walked to the door and knocked. And an old woman opened the door to him.

She said, ‘Who are you there? Who is it here this time of night?’

And Jack said, ‘I’ve brung back your stick!’

‘Oh, come in laddie,’ she says, ‘come in!’

And Jack spent a lovely evening with the old woman. He had a nice long talk to her and a lovely supper with her. And he had a good sleep. In the morning he bade her farewell. But before he left he held out the stick.

He said, ‘Here’s your stick! Take your stick back.’

‘Nah, nah, Jack,’ she says. ‘I’m no taking the stick back, laddie. You keep the stick! Because some day I might need you to carry me another bundle of sticks and you never know – maybe the king will have another task for you!’

Jack bade the old woman goodbye and he walked home. And after a few days’ travelling he landed back to see his old mother.

She was overjoyed to see him. And he came in.

She says, ‘Jack, did you mak your way, laddie?’

‘Oh, Mother, Mother,’ he said, ‘ye’ve nae idea – have I got a story to tell you!’

And Jack had a wee cup o’ tea, and he sat down by his mother. He placed his wee stick by the fire. He tellt his mother the story. And the story he tellt his mother is the one I’ve tellt you right now!

That was Old Toots’s story, old Johnnie MacDonald. He was an old Travelling man called ‘The Story Mannie’ by children in Aberdeenshire. Oh, I was only about eighteen when he told me it. We were staying up near CouparAngus. I’ve told it since then among Travellers, just among Travellers.

Jack was reared with his old mother. They lived in this cottage and everything she done was just for the sake o’ getting him reared up the best she could.

But one morning she says to him, ‘Jack, ye’ll have to gang to the town and get two-three bits o’ messages today again.’

‘I dinna mind goin for the messages, Mother; but look, can ye gie me a shilling to myself?’

‘What are ye wantin a shilling for?’

‘Ye ken what I want a shilling for – to get a wee bit
thing
to myself.’

‘Look, bad luck’s going to follow you yet,’ she said, ‘ower the heids o’ this drink, this carry-on. Drinkin is goin to get you into serious trouble.’

He says, ‘Mother, for all the drink that I get it’ll no do me much harm.’ But anyway, he hemmed and hawed and he managed to beg her for half a crown to go to the town.

‘Now,’ she says, ‘remember, I ken that you’re goin to come back the shortcut through the wood. And Jack, if it’s late, dinna come back through there! I tellt ye an awfa bing o’ times, ‘cause I’ll tell ye something: some o’ these times the Devil’ll get ye comin back through the shortcut!’

Now, where Jack stayed in this wee house with his mother, if he went round the road it was about two miles to the wee village. But if he came back through the wood by the shortcut
he had to pass this big clift in this rock. And it was a dreary path through the wood.

But away Jack went to the town and he bought his two-three bits o’ messages for his mother, whatever he needed. And in to the pub, he spent his half-crown. And he got hisself a good-goin drink. By the time he got out o’ the pub it was about ten o’clock. He got his mother’s wee bit messages on his back. And he went back the road.

But when he came to the crossroads he said, ‘Man, it’s a long bit round about that road. There naethin’s goin to bother me goin through this shortcut.’

His mother had warned him not to take it at night. He went it two-three times during the day. He kent it, knew the road well. But he’d never come through it at night before. It was ten’ o’clock, the month of October and the moon was shining clearly. And with the drink in his head he said, ‘Ach, I canna walk that bit the night. I’m going back through the shortcut.’

So back he comes. And he travels on, he travels on. But before getting near the house he had to come to a bad bend in the road. And there was a face o’ a clift. Then there was the path that led ye down to the house. The moon was shining clear. Jack’s walking on the wee pad and he’s dottering on, ye ken, a wee drink on him! And he looks – lyin right on the pad shinin – a gold sovereign. Jack bends and he picks it up, brother, and he looks.

‘Oh dear-dear,’ he says, ‘if I’d hae come this way the first time I could hae haen that. I could hae haen that drunk. But it’ll keep to the mornin.’

But he’d only taken another two steps . . . another yin! And after he’d taken another step – another one! But these coins weared away up the pad. And he followed them, he picked them up as he went.

He came to the face o’ the clift. He looked: there was a dark hole and he could see a light. A light, and he seen a fire shinin in a monster cave in the face o’ the clift!

He says, ‘I never kent this place was here before. Maybe it’s an old buck gadgie with a fire. Maybe he’s lost his money, maybe he stole it fae somebody. He dropped it from a hole in the bag or something. He’s in there wi all that loor. Tsst, I’m goin in for a crack to him, maybe he’s got somethin to drink!’

He walks in, into the face o’ the clift. He sees this big fire and here this man’s sittin. Tall dark man sittin at the fire.

‘Come on, Jack!’ he said. I’ve been waitin for you for a long, long while, Jack, come on in!’

So Jack walked further in. But a funny thing about the fire was, the sticks was burning but they werena seemin to be deein out. Shadows was round the wall, Jack could see the shadows of the fire was making droll faces on the front of the wall.

The man says, ‘Sit down, Jack.’

Jack sat down.

The man says, ‘Ye never done what yer mother tellt ye, did ye?’

‘No,’ says Jack, ‘I never done what my mother tellt me.’

He said, ‘Yer mother tellt ye not to come back the shortcut tonight, didn’t she?’

‘Aye,’ said Jack, ‘but if I hadna come back I wouldna hae found the money.’

‘What money did ye find, Jack?’

‘I found money on the road up. And it led me into this cave. You stole it and you lost it. It’s mine now! You stole it fae somebody.’

He said, ‘How much did you get?’

Jack said, ‘I got a good few onyway.’

Hand in his pocket, brother, nothing! Not a haet. He emptied his pocket outside in – nothing!

And this man laughed: ‘Na, na, Jack,’ he said, ‘ye mightna look in yer pocket, laddie, there nothing in yer pocket. Ye like money, Jack, don’t ye?’

‘Aye,’ said Jack, ‘I like money. I was reared with my mother since my father dee’d. I dinna remember much about him. And me and her got a hard time o’ it.’

And he said, ‘Ye like a drink, Jack?’

‘Oh-oh, I like a drink all right, I love a drink.’

‘And you spend every wee copper that yer mother’s got for the sake o’ buyin drink. And she’s to do wantin a lot o’ things that she could buy for the money you spend.’

Jack said, ‘That’s got nothin to do wi you.’

He said, ‘Jack, that’s got an awfa lot to do wi me! Look, if you want money, there a boxful there, help yersel! Take as much as ye want.’

Now, when Jack sat with his mother at the fire in their house, it was a peat fire they had. And Jack used to be fond o’ sittin at the fire with his bare feet. They always used to keep a creel o’ peats at the fireside. When the fire burnt down Jack would be lyin back gettin a good heat, his mother used to tell Jack to put a bit peat on the fire. And he could bend down, he could lift a peat with his toe and put it on the fire with his foot, his bare foot – to save him from getting up – touch o’ laziness, ye see! And Jack had practised this for years and he’d got that good at it. Well, Jack was as clever with his foot as he was with his hand.

So the Devil said, ‘There’s plenty in the box, Jack, help yerself.’

So Jack put his hand in the box, lifted it up, a handful. Then, two hands. When he got it in his two hands . . . dust, brother, dust! The man looked at him and he laughed.

Jack said, ‘In the name of God, who are you? You’re bound to be the Devil!’

He says, ‘Jack, that’s who I am; I’m the Devil.’

‘Well,’ Jack said, ‘look, if you’re the Devil, that’s Devil’s money. And it’s nae good to me.’

‘Oh aye, Jack,’ he said, ‘it’s good to you, Jack. You can have as much o’ it as you can tak.
But you’ve got to tak it the way that I canna tak it.
’

Jack looked down and he seen the cloven foot sittin, the right foot, split foot. Jack said, ‘If I can lift it the way you canna lift it, can I keep it?’

‘That’s the bargain, Jack!’ he said.

Jack says, ‘Right.’

Slipped off his old boot, brother, off with his old stocking. He lifted the lid of the box. Jack put the foot into the box, with his two toes he lifted a gold piece and he put it in his hand. There it was shiny as could be. He put it in his pocket. Another yin. And another yin, till he had about forty. Weight in his pocket.

‘Now,’ he says to the Devil, ‘you do the same for me!’

Devil put the . . .

‘No,’ says Jack, ‘the same foot as me – the
right
foot – get it in the box and get them out!’

Devil put the cloven foot into the box, brother. He tried with the split foot, but na – ye’re wise!

He says, ‘Jack, ye finally beat me!’ And just like
that
there were a
flash o’ flame
, brother dear. And darkness.

Jack rubbed his eyes, he wakened up. He was sitting with his back against the clift, sober as a judge against the clift. And the clift was closed, not a soul to be seen. He got up, lifted his mother’s wee bundle and he walked home. He landed in. His old mother was sitting in the house.

She said, ‘Ye’re hame, Jack.’

He said, ‘Aye, I’m hame.’

She said, ‘Did ye get a wee drink?’

‘Drink! Mother, I got mair than a drink . . . I got the biggest fright I ever got in my life.’

‘What happened?’

‘I met the Devil!’

‘Aye,’ she says, ‘you met the Devil!’

‘Aye, I met the Devil,’ and he told her the story I’m telling you. ‘But Mother, I beat him, I beat the Devil. He couldna do what I done. You used to cry me, Mother, a lazy cratur when I was sittin at the fire puttin peats on the fire wi my feet.’

‘Aye,’ she said, ‘naebody would put peats on with their feet. It’s only
you
, a bundle of laziness!’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘
that’s
no a bundle o’ laziness – forty gold sovereigns in my pocket. The Devil couldna lift them with his right foot, but I beat him when I lifted them with mine.’