Jack and his Comrades
Encyclopedia
Jack and his Comrades is an Irish fairy tale
collected by Joseph Jacobs
, listing as his source Patrick Kennedy's Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts.
In the Aarne-Thompson categorisation system, it is "type 130", i.e. "outcast animals find a new home".
They go to sleep in the woods. The rooster crows, claiming to see dawn, and Jack realizes that it's a candle in a house. They go to it, and realize it is a robbers' den. Jack has all the animals make noise at once and himself shouts orders to destroy them all, frightening off the robbers. Jack and the animals eat and go to sleep. The captain of the robbers, realizing what they had left behind, try to sneak back, but the animals attack him, and the other robbers are frightened off by his story.
The lord they had robbed drives by the next day. Jack greets him and tells him the porter let the robbers in. The porter, in denying it, lets slip that he knew how many there were. Jack says he has his gold and silver. The lord makes him his steward, and Jack brings his mother to the castle to live.
, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-haired
, and The Girl and the Dead Man
.
Jacobs cited this as a parallel of the Town Musicians of Bremen
.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected by Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs was a folklorist, literary critic and historian. His works included contributions to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, translations of European works, and critical editions of early English literature...
, listing as his source Patrick Kennedy's Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts.
In the Aarne-Thompson categorisation system, it is "type 130", i.e. "outcast animals find a new home".
Synopsis
Jack tells his mother he will seek his fortune. His mother offers him half a hen and half a cake with her blessing, or the whole of both without; he asks for the halves and is given the whole of both, with her blessing. On his way, he meets a donkey in a bog and helps it out. A dog runs up to him for protection, with a pot tied to its tail and a crowd hunting it; the donkey bellows and scares them off and Jack unties the pot. He shares his meal with the dog, while the donkey eats thistles; a half-starved cat comes by, and Jack gives it a bone with meat. In the evening, they rescue a rooster from a fox.They go to sleep in the woods. The rooster crows, claiming to see dawn, and Jack realizes that it's a candle in a house. They go to it, and realize it is a robbers' den. Jack has all the animals make noise at once and himself shouts orders to destroy them all, frightening off the robbers. Jack and the animals eat and go to sleep. The captain of the robbers, realizing what they had left behind, try to sneak back, but the animals attack him, and the other robbers are frightened off by his story.
The lord they had robbed drives by the next day. Jack greets him and tells him the porter let the robbers in. The porter, in denying it, lets slip that he knew how many there were. Jack says he has his gold and silver. The lord makes him his steward, and Jack brings his mother to the castle to live.
Commentary
The big and the little cakes are a common motif, although Jack is unusual in having no older brothers; preferring the smaller cake is often the distinguishing mark of the youngest child, as in The King Of Lochlin's Three DaughtersThe King Of Lochlin's Three Daughters
"The King of Lochlin's Three Daughters" is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Neill Gillies, a fisherman near Inverary.-Synopsis:...
, The Adventures of Covan the Brown-haired
The Adventures of Covan the Brown-haired
The Adventures of Covan the Brown-haired is a Celtic fairy tale translated by Dr. Macleod Clarke. Andrew Lang included it in The Orange Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
, and The Girl and the Dead Man
The Girl and the Dead Man
The Girl and the Dead Man is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, listing his informant as Ann Darroch, in Islay.-Synopsis:...
.
Jacobs cited this as a parallel of the Town Musicians of Bremen
Town Musicians of Bremen
The Town Musicians of Bremen is a folktale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Despite the title of the fairy tale, the characters never actually arrive in Bremen...
.