The Jack Story

There was the Jack of the beanstalk story, and a Jack Sprat who could eat no fat. And there was Jack-in-the-box who used to spring out of a box for no reason at all. And Jack who broke his crown fetching water with a certain Jill. Not to forget little Jack Horner, or the Jack who jumped over a candlestick. . . .

Theirs is a club of Jacks. Grown old they are all drunks. Jack Sprat’s a bloated sot. Jack of the beanstalk has long ago drunk up all his beanstalk wealth. Jack who used to spring out of a box now lies at the bottom of it in his own vomit. Little Jack Horner just sits in a corner nursing a bottle of rye, saying, What a good boy am I. And the Jack who used to fetch water complains that he still misses Jill, and all the wondrous falling they used to do. . . .

—Russell Edson (1935- )