Well, one thing leads to another and the next thing you know Jack is hunting a big ol’ Boar Hog for one of those neighboring kings that seem to populate the hills around where Jack lives.  The Boar Hog is followed by a Unicorn that Jack successfully captures and an escaped Circus lion that Jack claims to be trying to tame when the king’s soldiers shoot it out from under him … . 

As a character, moreover, Jack annoys me; he never seems satisfied; there is always something more to do … which is no doubt in keeping with his American ‘character’ but no less annoying.  And no matter how keen of wit he is in a given tale Jack nevertheless lucks his way through his adventures.  In Jack and the Varmints it’s sheer dumb luck that that Boar Hog follows him into the corn crib or that the Unicorn drives its horn through that tree trunk … and the lion … well … .  Jack’s just blessed is the only way to look at it; he’s favored of the gods – like Theseus or Perseus or –

 

Now, there’s something to consider.  The workings of Fate.  The machinations of the gods … .  Jack certainly owns enough where-with-all to take advantage of the situations into which he falls; for example, he pulls those three-penny nails out of his pocket and drives them at angles into the tree trunk to hold that Unicorn’s horn in place
. . .
which is why I don’t strike Jack’s Tales from my repertoire entirely; there’s always something new to look at, some angle I missed the first time through … .  Some possibility, or tradition to consider … .

 

Fact is:  that’s kind of what Storytelling is all about. Finding  new ways to look at old stories. Trying to rekindle the wonderment you may have felt as a child in looking at the world for the first time.  Remembering. Recreating <!>

“Jack Tales” are rich in tradition, owing their origins, of course, to whatever countries first birthed their first tellers; there are Jack stories that can be traced back to the British Isles, or all the way to Russia.

Continue

[ 994 ] [ 000 ] [ 001 ] [ 002 ] [ 003 ] [ 031 ]

 

For more information, email Gene Gryniewicz at gene@tale-teller.com