Johnson, Paul Brett. Fearless Jack. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2001. N. pag. This picture book begins, “Back some time ago when folks still had to worry about giants and wild unicorns and such, there was an old woman and her son, Jack.” After he kills ten yellow jackets at a whack, Jack is recruited for killing some animals that are terrorizing a town. The mayor gets him to go after a boar, a bear, and a unicorn. He intends to take off instead of facing wild “varmints,” as they are called in oral versions, until a combination of luck and quick thinking enables him to overcome each beast as he encounters it. Jack in Johnson's illustrations is a young boy, a Tom Sawyer type, with a dog at his side whose expressions react to each incident. The end sets up Jack's next encounter with a giant (in Jack Outwits the Giants, Johnson's next book). See cover and other information at visitingauthors.com. Chase, Richard. "Jack and the Varmints." The Jack Tales. Boston: Houghton, 1943. pp. 58-66. With three drawings by Berkeley Williams, Jr. of Jack confronting a "big wild hog," a unicorn, and a lion. Chase (like Roberts, below) cites type 1640, The Brave Tailor, although this version has no giants. Jack kills seven butterflies with a paddle he has thoughtlessly whittled. After his belt saying "Strong man Jack killed seven at a whack" attracts the King, he earns thousands of dollars by defeating these fierce animals through trickery. He goes home with "a whole pile of money down in his old ragged overhall pocket" (although he is a young man in a suit in the illustrations). The tale ends, "And the last time I went down there Jack was still rich, and I don't think he's worked any yet." Carl Lindahl (see below) notes that Chase's version has more details about Jack being a lazy braggart than other versions from the Hicks-Harmon family. Harmon, Samuel. "Stiff Dick." In Lindahl, Carl. "A Tale of Verbal Economy: 'Stiff Dick.'" Journal of Folklore Research Jan.-August 2001: pp. 1+. Critical essay with text of the tale "Stiff Dick," told by Harmon near Maryville, Tennessee, April 27, 1939. "The tale was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the Archive of American Folk Song and is currently housed in the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress (recordings AFS 2924B, 2925A)." Lindahl observes that "these tales represent the earliest sound recordings of America's most celebrated Märchen-telling family: the Hicks-Harmon family, whose members include Jane Gentry, Maud Long, and Ray Hicks. . . . the same extended family that provided Richard Chase with many of the stories that appear in Chase's The Jack Tales (1943). Lindahl compares Harmon's "efficient" performance with Chase's longer published tale, "Jack and the Varmints," which was based on four versions collected from the Hicks-Harmon family. Full text accessed 1/14/04 through library database Expanded Academic Index ASAP. Haley, Gail E. "The Lion and the Unicorn." Mountain Jack Tales. New York: Dutton, 1992. Includes a full-page woodcut illustration of Jack riding the lion. Jack kills seven bluebottle flies with a wooden paddle he makes. A traveler adds "Killed Seven at a Whack" to his belt with studs after Jack shares his lunch. King Botchfit commissions him to conquer a boar, unicorn and lion. Jack hopes all his money and store-bought goods will appease his Maw when he is three days late returning home. See Appalachian Folktale Collections A-J for more details on Haley's book of Jack tales and Muncimeg. “Jack and the Varmints.” In Folklore of the United States. Jack Tales II. Told by Mrs. Maud Long of Hot Springs, NC. Ed. Duncan Emrich. LP. Washington: Library of Congress, Division of Music, 1947. “Big Man Jack, Killed Seven at a Whack.” Told by Ray Hicks. Ray Hicks Telling Four Traditional Jack Tales. LP. Sharon, Conn: Folk-Legacy Records, 1964. “Big Man Jack, Killed Seven at a Whack.” Told by Ray Hicks. In Jack Tales. 1 Audio cassette. Sharon, Conn: Folk-Legacy Records, 1963. "The Unicorn and the Wild Boar." Recorded from Ray Hicks, 1951. In "Ray Hicks." American Folktales: From the Collections of the Library of Congress. Ed. Carl Lindahl. Vol. 1. Armonk NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004, pp. 138-44. Also includes "Jack and the Robbers," "The Witch Woman on the Stone Mountain on the Tennessee Side," "Grinding at the Mill" (a Jack tale also called "Sop Doll"), "Mule Eggs." With photographs of Ray Hicks. “Jack and the Varmints.” Told by Orville Hicks. In Mule Egg Seller and Appalachian Storyteller. Compact Disc. Boone, NC: Orville Hicks, 1998. 15:15 minutes. “Jack and the Wild Animals.” Told by Billy Edd Wheeler. In Some Mountain Tales about Jack. Told and Sung by Billy Edd Wheeler. Vol. III. Spoken Arts Cassette Library for Young Listeners, 1980. “Big Man Jack, Killed Seven at a Whack.” In Smith, Jimmy Neil, ed. Why the Possum's Tail is Bare and Other Classic Southern Stories. New York: Avon, 1993. Collected from Ray Hicks of Banner Elk, NC. "Jack and the Varmints." In Kidd, Ronald (comp.). On Top of Old Smoky: A Collection of Songs and Stories from Appalachia. Illus. Linda Anderson. Nashville, TN: Ideals Children's Books, 1992. A three-page retelling accompanied by one painting called Thunderstorm in the Jungle—beautiful although not an Appalachian scene. "Jack and the Varmints." In Rugoff, Milton, ed. A Harvest of World Folktales. New York: Viking, 1949. Other American tales include "Jack's Hunting Trips," "Old Gally Mander," "The Tar Baby," "Dicey -- and Orpus," "The Man and his Boots," "Big John the Conqueror," "Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men," "Davy Crockett: Sunrise in his Pocket," "Paul Bunyan's Big Griddle," "Paul's Cornstalk," "John Henry and the Machine in West Virginia." "Jack and the Varmints." In Crabb, Gladys. Jack and the Mule Eggs and Other Jack Tales. CD. Musark, 2003. Told by a storyteller from Virginia and Georgia. Also includes "Jack and the Mule Eggs," "Jack and the Bean Tree," "Jack & The King's Girl." Related Appalachian Tales: "The Tailor and the Giants." In Roberts, Leonard. South From Hell-fer-Sartin': Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales. U of KY Press, 1955. Rpt. Berea, KY: The Council of the Southern Mountains, 1964, pp. 137-40. A little tailor who brags after killing seven flies "at one stroke" engages in a contest with a dumb giant, using tricks to suggest he can squeeze water out of rocks, throw a rock out of sight, and pick up trees. In order to win the hand of a princess, the tailor rigs up a blade to behead the giant and his 3 friends. Jack and the Giants lists other tales that begin like these and involve conflicts with giants, including the Italian "John and the Giants" told in WV. Compare these Appalachian giant tales with: "The Brave Little Tailor," in which a tailor embroiders "Seven at a blow" on his girdle after killing seven flies. He tricks giants by squeezing cheese, pretending he can carry trees, and getting giants to fight each other. He earns the reward of a king's daughter and a kingdom after capturing a unicorn by getting its horn caught in a tree and trapping a boar in a chapel. His bragging stops a plot to prevent him from marrying the princess. The full text from Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book is online at www.RickWalton.com. The Valiant Little Tailor is an old Grimm Brothers' version reprinted online by Carnegie Mellon University. The 1812 edition translated by Edgar Taylor is online at The Valiant Little Tailor. For another Grimm version and information on variants and adaptations, see The Brave Little Tailor in the beautiful Sur La Lune Fairy Tale Pages by Heidi Anne Heiner. "Foma Berennikov." In Russian Fairy Tales. Transl. Norbert Guterman from the collections of Aleksandr Afanas'ev. New York: Pantheon, 1945. Rpt. Random House, 1973. pp. 284-87. The one-eyed son of an old woman, a poor peasant farmer, kills 500 flies and 12 gadflies. Telling his mother he killed heroes, he goes off to seek adventure. With two followers who join him, they help the Prussian king defeat the Chinese king. Foma sends out his strong followers and when he goes to battle himself, the Chinese champion foolishly imitates his actions, closing his eyes when he sees that Foma is one-eyed. Foma cuts off his head and defeats the other Chinese with the help of a mighty horse that he really can't control. As a reward he chooses the beautiful Prussian princess. "Thus not only mighty men have luck! He who shouts loudest about himself fares best." "Ivan the Simpleton." In Russian Fairy Tales. Transl. Norbert Guterman from the collections of Aleksandr Afanas'ev. New York: Pantheon, 1945. Rpt. Random House, 1973. pp. 132-45. A lazy third son kills 40 gadflies and swarms of smaller bugs. Bragging that he has killed knights and warriors, he leaves home while his family laughs and gives him silly things. Two strong heroes join him, help him demand the king's daughter, and defeat the king's army. The king sends a mighty champion who laughs at little Ivan, giving Ivan a chance to cut off his head. The intimidated king summons these champions and lets Ivan marry the princess. "They celebrated their wedding, and are still alive to this very day and chewing bread." Last
update: 5/9/04 |
|||||||