Save me a Story – Jack

This is the continuing story of my adventures in the tale: Save me a Story. If you wish to read the introduction to understand what is happening, click this link: 

https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=3431 

Otherwise, I’ve tried to summarize what happened at the beginning of most of the sections of this story.  

Jack

In search of the lost stories of Selat, I found myself accompanied by Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, traveling through the woods from Granny’s house to a village where a note left by Red said Red was going to meet with other story characters to discuss the waning interest in folktales. It had been two days since Red left, and we were worried. 

 The shortcut Granny used to reach the village appeared to be through an uncharted forest. There was no actual path to follow, but Granny clearly knew where she was going. She assured me that the village was not that far away. 

We had been traveling for about an hour when we stopped to rest. In the distance, we heard some movement. Fearing that it might be the wolf, we hid behind some trees. 

As the sounds became louder and closer, we realized that it was not the sound of an animal but of a boy who appeared to be seeking something or someone.

“Mother, where are you? I’m back,” he called. “You have to see what I’ve found by our house.”

Granny and I stepped out from behind the rocks, showed ourselves, and the boy stopped in his tracks. 

Standing in front of us was a young boy. He looked about 11 or 12 years old. He wore clothing befitting a peasant, his hair was mussy, and his shoes well worn. He had a concerned yet curious look on his face.

“And, who might you be?” I asked.

“My name’s Jack,” he said, “I’m looking for my mother. She got angry at me a few nights ago about a deal I made trading our old cow for some magic beans. She said I had been foolish and threw the beans out the window. She said we would discuss it in the morning when she returned from a meeting she was going to. She hasn’t returned, and I’m worried about what happened to her. I want to tell her what happened just outside my bedroom window.”

I introduced myself and Granny to Jack and explained where we were going. I asked, “I take it then that if you have been looking for your mother since she left, you haven’t climbed the beanstalk yet?”

Both Jack and Granny looked at me with quizzical looks on their faces.

Jack asked me, “How did you know about the beanstalk? That’s just what I was going to tell my mother about.”

Granny questioned me, too, “What beanstalk are you talking about?”

Answering this became a dilemma for me since I knew these were all part of the stories I knew from growing up in the Bronx, but did that mean that all these characters I’ve been interacting with were part of the same stories, or did they happen on Selat differently than my traditional tales. 

“I must have read it somewhere,” was my response. I quickly added, “Needless to say, it seems that we are all on the same quest. We must go to the village and find out what happened at that meeting?”

Jack immediately said, “I’m not afraid. Let’s do it. The sooner we can find my mother and return, the sooner I can explore where that beanstalk goes. I bet I’ll be able to climb it all the way to the lands above the clouds. I’ll bet there’s a fortune waiting for my mother and me up there.”

Granny also responded, “Yes, let’s go. Time’s a-wastin’. I don’t know how I could live with myself, knowing I could have helped my Little Red and did nothing.”

“Okay, Granny. Then lead on,” I ordered. 

So now there were three of us. Me a storyteller from New York, a feisty old grandmother, and a curious and clever young boy, all looking to find answers. 

Continued in…Kingdom of Selat