Jack and the Devil's Purse (16 page)

But he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned the whole faring night, and in his mind he could see these boots, this beautiful young woman and this big eagle. It was coming sweeping down at him, the eagle making attacks at him, swooping attacks, but it wasn’t touching him! And all in a minute when Jack saw it wasn’t touching him – Jack lost his fear of the eagle.

But he wakened in the morning just as the cock crew. He got up, put on his clothes, went down the stairs, made a cup of tea for his mother and bade her goodbye. He never took his fishing rod or anything. He set himself back up the way he had come and followed the river on and on and on. Just as it was getting light, the sun was just coming up over the mountains when he landed at the waterfall. And sure enough, he made his way down the path that he’d taken before right to the very spot. There she was, sitting in the same place.

‘A good morning, Jack!’ she says.

‘Good morning, young lady, good morning! You’re here bright and early this morning; did you go home last night?’ said Jack.

‘Oh yes, Jack, I went home last night. And my uncles were very, very angry.’

‘Now,’ he said, ‘tell me something before you start. I sat last night and had a talk to my mother; and she told me many funny, queer stories and tales. I want you to be honest with me and tell me the truth before we go another step.’

‘Well, Jack, I’ll be honest with you,’ she said, ‘and I’ll tell you the truth.’

‘What is it you want me to do?’ Jack says.

She said, ‘I want to escape from the Ravens!’

He says, ‘How can I help you?’

She says, ‘I’m going to tell you how you can help me. And you’re the only one who can; I don’t know anybody else who could help me.’

He says, ‘What are the Ravens to you in the first place?’

She says, ‘I’ll tell ye a story if you’ll listen to me. I came to stay with my grandfather, how and why I don’t know. But I can remember a long time ago as a child leaving my moth-er’s land and travelling on horseback over the mountains through darkness and through light and through storms; we landed in this big house to the comfort of my grandfather, whom I dearly adored. And when I landed there in my grandfather’s house there were these two young men, whom I instantly hated for evermore! I knew they were no relation to my grandfather, because my grandfather didn’t have anybody. By one word or another I tried to talk to my grandfather, and he told me that they were the Ravens, just Two Ravens. And to keep me occupied my grandfather got me an eagle, Hungry, as a chick; and told me that I would be safe as long as he was alive, that Hungry would take good care of me. But someday I would have to return to my mother over the mountains.

‘My life as a young girl spent with my grandfather was very happy. The Ravens never bothered me very much, I was too young. But when I began to grow up and get mature they began to pay more attention to me. And my grandfather wasn’t worried. One day I came home and found my grandfather seriously ill, he was dying. He made me promise to lead him by the hand to a secret burial ground where he would lie and rest for evermore, where no one would find him.

‘And, Jack, this is the story I’m going to tell to you, and I hope it will never be repeated: my grandfather was a lonely old man who stayed up in these mountains by himself, who practised magic for many years. He had many trips to the village to buy supplies to keep himself alive, but one day he was walking along on his way to the village when two small ravens fell from a nest. They were high in a tree, and my grandfather being an old man had no way to put them back in the nest, he felt sorry for the birds. So he took them back home with him – this is the story my grandfather told to me.

‘With his magic power he turned them into two boys and reared them up as his own. He thought they would grow up to be natural, nice and kind, but being ravens they could never do that! So, many years later he got word that my father had died, my mother was left on her own with me to take care of, and no way to look after me. He went across the mountains, collected and brought me back here, reared me up as his own; because Mother was his only daughter, and he had everything here under the sun to give me, money, love and freedom. The only thing he ever detested in his life was bringing the Ravens to life; many days he told me as he lay in bed that he wished from his heart he’d never done it!

‘But he loved these boys dearly, although they didn’t think much of him. He worked his magic and made them each a pair of boots with wings that would travel faster than sound. He also made them two rings to put on their fingers they could use when he was gone which, if it ever came to pass that they needed – they could change themselves into any form on the Earth – except a raven! Because, once they ever changed into a raven again there was no way back.

‘Now, Jack, what I want you to do is to come home with me to my grandfather’s home, collect my personal possessions and take me over the mountains home to my mother.
I’ll pay you well if you’re willing! But remember: I have one ring, which I have stolen from the Ravens, in my possession. They have only one between them – they can never, never split up because they need this ring. Both of them want to marry me! And the only reason that keeps them from falling apart with each other – as long as I own this ring – they can never be apart, having only one ring my grandfather gave them now. I want you to come and take me across the mountains from these Ravens who are no relation to me, whom I desperately hate!’

‘Well,’ Jack said, ‘it’s a queer tale, a very queer tale. There not much I can do about it. How would you chance to escape?’

She said, ‘There are horses, plenty of horses; I think we should go on horseback. We can take the finest horses that the Ravens possess and ride, be well over the mountains before they discover us.’

But Jack said, ‘If they’ve got so many magical powers they’re bound to find us somehow.’

‘How they find us, Jack,’ she said, ‘and what they do after they find us, is your problem. But I’m giving you the ring to use in any form that you require of it.’

And she took the ring out of her pocket, slipped it on Jack’s finger:

‘
Now, Jack, you can only use it three times to change into something different, and then it’s no use except to change back
.’

‘Fair enough,’ says Jack, ‘I’m willing!’ He had made up his mind a long time ago.

So, to cut a long story short, they made their way back to the castle, to the big house. And when Jack landed at this big house there was stuff that you’d never seen in your life! The young woman, Marigold they called her, led him through the castle and showed him the plunder that was
stolen from all over the land by the Ravens. They had more than they ever needed. But they were so greedy, they just collected, collected after each other – you know what ravens really are, they’ll steal anything – and nobody could catch them!

So when she took him into the long kitchen Jack looked up: hanging on the wall he saw two pairs of boots with wings.

Jack said, ‘That’s the first thing! Have you got a knife?’

She gave him a large kitchen knife. Jack took it and cut the wings off the boots, threw them on the floor.

‘Now,’ he said, ‘if they want to follow us they ain’t gaunna follow us with boots!’ He told her, ‘Take off yours, your boots!’

She says, ‘Why should I?’

‘Take off your boots and get in your stocking feet!’

So the young woman took off her boots and threw them on the floor beside theirs: Jack had it all planned.

‘Now,’ he says, ‘to the stables!’

Into the stables they went. And by sheer good luck the Ravens had left their two big horses in the stables.

Jack said, ‘Gather all your possessions that you can find, pack them in the saddle bag and let’s go! Upon my soul, I’ll try my best to take you across the mountains!’

So Marigold hurried as best she could, collected all the personal possessions she could find, packed them in the bag and threw it across the horse.

By this time Jack had come out. He had saddled the two horses:

‘Now,’ he said, ‘let’s be gone!’

They closed the door quietly behind them and set sail, they rode across the mountains. They rode and rode and they rode. They were always looking back.

But by this time, when they were gone for about three hours, who should come home but the Ravens! They opened the large door and shouted for Marigold. They wanted to eat. They were back with all their plunder. There was nothing, not a soul in the house. Nobody. And they looked on the floor of the kitchen – saw their boots and the wings cut off – and Marigold’s boots lying beside them.

They said, ‘She’s gone! We must find her!’ They ran to the stables – the two large horses were gone – the Two Ravens said, ‘Let’s get after them!’

So they picked another two horses and they rode. They rode and rode.

One brother said to the other, ‘What should we do – shall we change?’

‘No,’ said the other, ‘let’s ride in pursuit.’

So they rode and rode and they rode. But the horses that they rode were faster than the ones Jack and Marigold were on; they began to catch up.

And Jack looked back.

Marigold says, ‘Here come the Ravens; they’re behind us, Jack! What are we going to do?’

And they came to a brook. Jack said, ‘They’re just upon us. There’s nothing we can do!’

And what jumped up right in front of them but a hare, a brown hare. And Jack said, ‘Hares we may be!’

Just within seconds he and Marigold were two hares. Off they set across the moor!

When the Two Ravens saw this they stopped their horses, and said, ‘Hares they may be, hounds we may be!’ And the other rubbed his ring – two hounds set off after the two hares.

And the hares were off and the hounds after them at full tilt! They ran and ran and they ran till they came to a river. There was no way across.

The first thing Jack saw when he came to the river as he was sitting panting and Marigold was panting – a salmon ‘fweet’, jumping!

Jack said, ‘Salmon we may be!’

Just before you could say another word he and Marigold were two salmon and down into the burn!

When the Ravens came to the river they said, ‘Salmon they may be, otters we may be!’

Before you could say another thing they had turned into two otters, and they were off after the salmon.

The salmon were swimming but the otters were swimming faster. Marigold and Jack swam and swam and they swam till they couldn’t swim any longer, till they came to a little bend in the river.

Jack said, ‘Marigold, we must change once more!’

And they clambered up. The first thing they saw was a pheasant’s nest. Sitting in the nest were ten eggs.

Jack and Marigold . . . twelve eggs in the pheasant’s nest – they changed themselves into two eggs in the nest.

When the otters came up they looked around and saw the nest, and said, ‘Eggs they may be, ravens we may be!’

They turned into two ravens to pick the eggs and started picking when there was a rush of feathers in the sky!

Right down on top of them came this great eagle – took one in each foot and shook them both. Within minutes the Two Ravens were dead. They had tried to change themselves, but there was no way they could go back.

So, Jack took the ring and turned himself and Marigold back to themselves once more. There was the nest and there was Hungry. There were the Two Ravens dead for evermore.

And he said to Marigold, ‘You’ve no more worry about the Ravens, they’re gone for evermore. There’s no way in the world they can come back.’

‘I knew a long time ago,’ she said. ‘Jack, you planned it well. If you had never turned us into those eggs, they would never have turned into ravens. What gave you the thought?’

He said, ‘I had no thought. I just did it on the spur of the moment.’

‘Well, it saved our lives. The Ravens are gone, now we can go back home and live in peace.’

So Jack and Marigold went and collected their horses, rode back to the castle and stayed the night together. The next morning they rode down and saw Jack’s mother. They made arrangements to take Jack’s mother away from the old house with them to the castle to live happy in luxury for evermore.

And Marigold says, ‘Jack, now the Ravens are gone I am in no hurry to see my mother. After everything is settled and we’re happily married we’ll cross the mountains to see her. But Jack, come here!’

He says, ‘What is it, darling?’

She said, ‘The ring, give it to me!’

He says, ‘What for?’

She says, ‘Give it to me, Jack, because I want it!’

Jack took the ring off his finger and gave it to her. She said, ‘Come with me!’ and walked to the draw well. She caught it and threw it in the well.

He says, ‘What did you do that for, Marigold?’

She says, ‘Jack, I love you and you’re my husband. You saved my life! I don’t want you to turn into something that I wouldn’t like you to be.’

And that is the end of my story.

Once upon a time Jack lived with his mother in a wee cottage by the shore. His father had died when he was young and he was reared by his mother. And further along the shore lived his mother’s old sister, his old auntie, in another house. Jack visited her frequently from time to time when he was a boy, and his auntie loved him as much as his mother did.

But all Jack’s time he spent it on the beach, on the shores hunting the rocks and cliffs and fishing and doing everything under the sun, doing an odd bit job here and there to help his mother. And that’s the way he grew up till he came to be a young man. His mother and his auntie adored him because he was such a good laddie. Till one day he came home and he was sitting after his supper, sitting very quiet.

He says, ‘Mother . . .’

She says, ‘What is it, Jack?’

He said, ‘How can you catch a mermaid?’

‘Laddie,’ she said, ‘you canna catch a mermaid. Mermaids dinna exist. They only exist in folk’s minds. Sailors tell stories o’ seein mermaids, but it’s no really a
mermaid
.’

He says, ‘Mother, I’ve seen a real mermaid. And I’ve been watchin her now for months. I’ve fallen in love wi her and I want to catch her.’