“No,” says the mare, “we will not do that. Jack,” says she, “take the chains and tie me to the bear.”
Jack tied the mare to the bear with chains that were hanging by, and then the three of them, the mare and the bear and Jack, started, and on and on they went, as fast as they could gallop.
After a long time, says the mare: “Jack, look behind you, and see what you can see.”
Jack looked behind him, and “Oh!” says he, “I see the Giant of the Hundred Hills coming like a raging storm. Very soon he will be on us, and we will all three be murdered.”
Says the mare, says she, “We have a chance yet. Look in my left ear, and see what you can see;” and in her left ear Jack looked, and saw a little chestnut.
“Throw it over your left shoulder,” says the mare.
Jack threw it over his left shoulder, and that minute there arose behind them a chestnut wood ten miles wide. On and on they went that day and that night; and till middle of the next day, “Jack,” says the mare, “look behind you, and see what you can see.”
Jack looked behind him, and “Oh!” says he, “I see the Giant of the Hundred Hills coming tearing after us like a harvest hurricane.”
“Do you see anything strange about him, Jack?” says the mare.
“Yes,” says Jack, says he, “there are as many bushes on the top of his head, and as much fowl stuck about his feet and legs as will keep him in fire-wood and flesh for years to come. We are done for this time, entirely,” says poor Jack.
“Not yet,” says the mare; “there is another chance. Look into my right ear, and see what you can see.”
In the mare’s right ear Jack looked, and found a drop of water.
“Throw it over your left shoulder, Jack,” says the mare, “and see what will happen.”
Over his left shoulder Jack threw it, and all at once a lough sprung up between them and the Giant that was one hundred miles wide every way and one hundred miles deep.
“Now,” says the mare, “he cannot reach us until he drinks his way through the lough, and very likely he will drink until he bursts, and then we shall be rid of him altogether.”
Jack thanked God, and on he went. It was not long now until he reached the borders of Scotland, and there he saw a great wood.
“Now,” says the mare and the bear, “this wood must be our hiding-place.”
“And what about me?” says Jack.
“For you, Jack,” says the mare, “you must push on and look for employment. The castle of the King of Scotland is near by, and I think you will be likely to get employment there; but first I must change you into an ugly little hookedy-crookedy fellow, because the King of Scotland has three beautiful daughters, and he won’t take into his service a handsome fellow as you, for fear his daughters would fall in love with you.”
Then the mare put her nostrils to Jack’s breast and blew her breath over him, and Jack was turned into an ugly little hookedy-crookedy fellow.
“Jack,” says the mare, “before you go, look into my left ear, and take what you see there.”
Out of the mare’s left ear Jack took a little cap.
“Jack,” says she, “that is a wishing-cap, and every time you put it on and wish to have anything done, it will be done. Whenever you are in any trouble,” the mare says, “come back to me, and I will do what I can for you, and now good-bye.”
So Jack said good-bye to the mare and to the bear, and set off. When he got out of the wood, he soon saw a castle, and walked up to it and went in by the kitchen. A servant was employed scouring knives. He told her he wanted employment. She said the King of Scotland would employ no man in his house, so he might as well push on. But Jack insisted that the King would employ him, and at length the girl consented to go and let the King know.
When the girl had gone away, Jack put on his wishing-cap and wished the knives and forks scoured, and all at once the knives and forks, that were piled in a stack ten yards high, were scoured as brightly as new pins; and though the King of Scotland did not want to employ him, when he found how quickly Jack had scoured all the big stack of knives and forks, he agreed to keep him. But first he brought down his three daughters to see Jack, so that he could observe what impression Jack made upon them. When they came into the kitchen and saw the ugly little fellow, every one of the three fainted and had to be carried out.
“It is all right,” says the King; “we will surely keep you,” and Jack was employed, and sent out into the garden to work there.
Now at this time the King of the East declared war on the King of Scotland. The King of the East had a mighty army entirely, and he threatened to wipe the King of Scotland off the face of the earth.
The King of Scotland was very much troubled and he consulted with his Grand Adviser what was best to be done, and his Grand Adviser counseled that he should at once give his three daughters in marriage to sons of kings, and in that way get great help for the war. The King said this was a grand idea.
So he sent out messengers to all parts of the world to say that his three beautiful daughters were open for marriage. In a very short time the son of the King of Spain came and married the eldest daughter, and the son of the King of France came and married the second, and a whole lot of princes came looking for the youngest, who was the most beautiful of the three and whose name was Yellow Rose; but she would not take one of them, and for this the King ordered her never to come into his sight, nor into company, again.
Yellow Rose got very downhearted, and spent almost all her time now wandering in the garden, where the Hookedy-Crookedy was looking after the flowers, and she used to come around again and again, chatting to Hookedy-Crookedy. And so it was not long until Hookedy-Crookedy saw that the Yellow Rose was in love with him, and he got just as deeply in love with her, for she was a beautiful and charming girl.
The next thing the Grand Adviser counseled the King was that he should send his two new sons-in-law, the Prince of Spain and the Prince of France, to the Well of the World’s End for bottles of loca to take to battle with them, that they might cure the wounded and dead men. Loca was a liquid that cured all wounds and restored the dead to life. So the King ordered his sons-in-law to go to the Well of the World’s End and bring him back two bottles of loca.
The Yellow Rose told Hookedy-Crookedy all about this, and when he had turned it over in his mind, he said to himself, “I will go and have a chat with the mare and the bear about this.”
So off to the woods he went, and right glad the mare and the bear were to see him. He told them all that had happened, and then he told them how the King’s two sons-in-law were to start to the Well of the World’s End the next day, and asked the mare’s advice about it.
“Well, Jack,” says the mare, “I want you to go with them. Take an old hunter in the King’s stable, an old bony, skinny animal that is past all work, and put an old straw saddle on him, and dress yourself in the most ragged dress you can get, and join the two men on the road, and say that you are going with them. They will be heartily ashamed of you, Jack, and your old horse, and they will do everything to get rid of you. When you come to the cross-roads, one of them will propose to go in and have a drink; and while you are chatting over your drink, they will propose that the three of you separate and every one take a road by himself to go to the Well of the World’s End, and that all three shall meet at the cross-roads again, and whoever is back first with the bottle of water is to be the greatest hero of them all. You agree to this. When they start on their roads, they will not go many miles till they fill their bottles from spring wells by the roadside and hurry back to the meeting-place, and then continue on home to the King of Scotland and give him these bottles as bottles of loca from the Well of the World’s End. But you will be before them. After you have set out on the road, and when you have gone around the first bend, put on your wishing-cap and wish for two bottles of loca from the Well of the World’s End, and at once you will have them.” And then the mare directed Jack fully all that he was to do after.