And the master says, ‘O Jack, what did you kill your poor mother for?’
‘Oh! I don’t care; I can soon bring her right again.’
‘No,’ says the master, ‘never, Jack.’
And Jack began to smile, and he says, ‘Can’t I? you shall see, then.’ And he goes behind the door, and fetches a stick with a bit of a knob to it. Jack begin to laugh. He touches his mother with this stick, and the old woman jumped up. (This is s’posed to be an inchanted stick.)
Says the master: ‘O Jack,’ he says, ‘what shall I give you for that stick?’ [[261]]
‘Well, sir,’ he says, ‘I couldn’t let you have that stick. My inchantment would be broke.’
‘Well, Jack, if you’ll let me have that stick, I’ll never give you another thing to do as long as you live here.’
So he gave him £50 for this stick, and said he’d never give him nothing else to do for him. So the master went home to the house, and he didn’t know which way to fall out with the missus, to try this stick. One day at dinner-time he happened to fall out with her; the dinner she put for him didn’t please him. So he up with his fist and he knocked her dead.
In comes the poor servant-girl and says, ‘O master, whatever did you kill the poor missus for?’
He says, ‘I’ll sarve you the same.’ And he sarved her the same.