How Jackyo Became Rich

A long time ago there was a young man whose name was Jackyo. He was

very poor, and by his daily labor could earn barely enough for his

food and nothing at all for his clothes. He had a little farm at some

distance from the village in which he lived, and on it raised a few

poor crops.

One pleasant afternoon Jackyo started off to visit his farm. It was

late when he reached it, and after he had finished inspecting his

crops, he turned back homewards. But the bright day had gone and the

sun had set. Night came on quickly, and the way was dark and lonely.

At last he could no longer see the road. Not a star was to be seen,

and the only sounds he heard were the sad twitterings of the birds

and soft rustling of the leaves as they were moved by the wind.

At last he entered a thick forest where the trees were very big. "What

if I should meet some wild beast," thought Jackyo; but he added half

aloud, "I must learn to be brave and face every danger."

It was not long before he was very sure that he could hear a deep

roar. His heart beat fast, but he walked steadily forward, and soon

the roar was repeated, this time nearer and more distinctly, and he

saw in the dim light a great wild ox coming towards him.

He found a large hole in the trunk of a huge tree. "I will pass the

night here in this tree," he said to himself.

In a little while an old man appeared. His body was covered with coarse

hair and he was very ugly. He looked fiercely at Jackyo from head to

foot and said: "What are you thinking of to come in here? Do you not

know that this is the royal castle of the king of evil spirits?"

Jackyo became more frightened than before and for a long time he

could not speak, but at last he stammered: "Excuse me, sir, but I

cannot go home on account of the dark night. I pray you to let me

rest here for a short time."

"I cannot let you stay here, because our king is not willing to help

any one who does not belong to his kingdom. If he did so, his kingdom

would be lost. But what is your name? Do you know how to sing?" said

the old man.

"My name is Jackyo, and I know a little bit about singing," replied

Jackyo.

"Well," said the old man, "if you know any song, sing for me." Now

Jackyo knew but one song, and that was about the names of the days of

the week except Sunday. He did not like to sing it, but the old man

urged him, saying: "If you do not sing, I will cut your head off." So

Jackyo began to sing.

It happened that the king [5] of the evil spirits, whose name was

Mensaya, heard Jackyo's song and was very much interested in it. He

called a servant, named Macquil, and said: "Macquil, go downstairs and

see who is singing down there, and when you find him, bring him to me."

Jackyo went before the king, bowed to the floor, touching the carpet

with his forehead, and stood humbly before the king.

"Let me hear your song," said the king. So Jackyo, with great respect,

sang the only song he knew. Here it is:

    Mon-day, Tues-day, Wednesday, Thurs-day, Fri-day, Sat-ur-day.

While he was singing, all the evil spirits in the cave gathered around

him to hear his song, and Mensaya asked him to sing it over and over

again. They were all so pleased with it that Mensaya ordered Macquil

to give Jackyo a large quantity of gold and silver as a reward for

his beautiful song.

When the morning came Jackyo returned home, full of joy, and became

known as the richest man in the village.