(Valley View via Wikimedia Commons)
Several centuries ago, there was a young man named Jack. He
had a sister named Jill and a father. Jack loved his sister with all of his
heart, but absolutely hated his father because he was always mean to Jack and
his sister. Because Jack was so miserable, he felt that he had no choice other
than to run away from home.
So Jack
started running as fast as he could for as long as he could. He ran until he
felt like his legs were going to fall off. Jack finally reached a little town
in a valley when he suddenly ran into a frail old lady at the market. All of
the food she had just purchased went flying.
“Oh my
goodness! I am so sorry!” Jack exclaimed.
“It is no
trouble, my dear. It was just an accident,” the old lady said.
“But still
– I just wasted all of your food. Is there anything I can do to make it up to
you? My name is Jack,” he said.
“Well,
Jack, I just want to know what you are running from and then maybe we can make
a deal. My name is Margaret,” she replied.
Jack then
explained how he was running from his old home, trying to escape his terrible
father in the hopes of finding a better life. Margaret felt pity for the young
man, and took him under her wing. Margaret took Jack back to her little house
deep in the forest.
“You are
more than welcome to live here for as long as you would like, as long as you
just do some chores for me like cutting down trees and gathering berries,”
Margaret said. Jack nodded quickly without hesitation.
For the
next 365 days, Jack did whatever Margaret asked of him. Jack was so happy with his
new life. He had a quaint home and a nice person to talk to. The only thing
that seemed to be missing was his sister Jill. On the 365th day of
living there, Margaret could tell that Jack was a little sad.
“What is
wrong, my dear?” she asked.
“I
absolutely love my new life here! I just feel like something is missing – my
sister to be exact,” Jack said. Margaret gave Jack a soft smile.
“Well, I
was going to wait just one more day to tell you this, but now seems a good a
time as any. I am actually your fairy godmother. I meant to bump into you a
year ago so that I could take care of you and make sure you live a happy life,”
Margaret said. Jack was filled with excitement as Margaret said this. Because
Jack had treated Margaret with such kindness and love over the past 365 days,
Margaret said that she would grant Jack one wish.
“I wish for
my sister to live here with us if that is okay with you,” Jack said. Margaret
smiled, snapped her fingers, and then Jill appeared. Jack explained to Jill
that Margaret was his fairy godmother who had been taking care of him for the
past year. Jack also told Jill that she could live with them if that made her
happy. Jill was overjoyed with this new opportunity. From that moment on, Jack
and Jill lived with Margaret, knowing that they would always be safe, happy,
and loved.
Bibliography: "The Ass, the Table, and the Stick" from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs; link to the reading online
Author's Note: I based my story off of Joseph Jacobs’s “The Ass, the Table, and the Stick.” However, my version of the story is completely different from the original version - the only similar parts are that Jack is unhappy at his house because his father treats him poorly, so he runs away from home and runs into an old lady who takes him to live with her and work for her. I also kept the part where Jack worked there for an entire year before something major happened. In the original version of the story, there was a donkey that produces coins and such from his mouth, as well as a table that was covered in food and drinks once commanded. I liked both of those elements as I was reading the story, but I realized that I wanted to take my story in a completely different direction. The original version of the story ended with Jack claiming that he wanted to find the richest lass in town to marry, but I honestly did not really like that ending because it seemed kind of anti-climactic to me since it ended so quickly. The girl Jack really wanted to marry was not rich, so he had all of the girls who were waiting to meet him get knocked out so that the girl he really liked could get all of their money and become the richest lass.
I love that you took so much creative freedom with your take on the story! Also, I was a fan of Fairly Odd Parents as a kid, so I appreciated the twist that you added to the lore there—it seems so much more effective for the kid to not initially realize who his fairy god parent is. The fact that the siblings got reunited at the end was a nice touch, too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that Margaret lived forest, I thought of the worse, which was that she would eat Jack or kill him. However, I was glad that no one died in your story. It was a twist that Margaret was a fairy godmother as well. I was surprised that she kept it a secret from Jack for 365 days and that she and Jack didn’t think to get Jill earlier.
ReplyDeleteI like how you took this story and made it completely your own! Not very many people are creative enough to accomplish this! I'm also a big fan of happy endings! I change a lot of my stories' endings if they aren't happy because I think that the main character always deserves to be happy! Overall great job!
ReplyDeleteI really thought this was going to end with her eating jack or something. Like a Hansel and Grettle type story where they find an old witch in the woods and the witch actually eats people. Your ending was much more pleasant. It was a very simple story but I think you wrote it well. It might have benefited from being a little longer. I kind of wondered why jack would like living there so much and working if he wasn't say getting paid for it or anything. I almost thought the old woman was taking advantage of him haha. Lots of free labor.
ReplyDeleteI thought your story was great. The length was perfect and it was just a cute little story. I like that you added your own twist to the story and made it your own. I did that a lot with my writing. I would keep one maybe two elements from the original story and then make it my own. I think it is more fun that way. I liked how you made Margaret his fairy godmother. I never saw that coming and I was glad you had a happy ending to your story. I wondered why, Jack was running from his father in the first place?
ReplyDeleteHey! A Jack story! Those are great! (It’s what my story book was about). Yeah, “The Ass, the Table, and the Stick” was super weird, so I rather like the changes you made. I like that Jack is so sweet to Margaret, and that he gets along so well with his sister (great choice of a name for her, by the way). Thank you for making characters that I like!
ReplyDelete