Download the audio of Lazy Jack
Lazy Jack goes out to work, but he’s not used to earning a living, and he gets into all sorts of muddles.
This old English story, collected by James Halliwell Orchard Phillips, is a good fireside yarn. If you know the story of the Golden Goose, you might see some similarities. It has a nice repeating structure, and by the end of it, you will probably agree with Jack’s mother, that he’s not the cleverest of lads.
Read by Natasha. Duration: 6.23.
Once upon a time there was a boy whose name was Jack, and he lived with his mother in a dreary cottage. They were very poor, and the old woman earned a few pennies by spinning, but Jack was so lazy that he would do nothing but bask in the sun in the hot weather, and sit by the corner of the fire in the winter time. His mother could not make him do anything for her, and until at last she warned him that if he did not begin to work for his porridge, she would turn him out of the house to get his living as best he could.
This threat finally stirred Jack, and he went out and found a job for the day working for on a farm. The farmer paid him one penny, but he was not used to having money, and as he was coming him he lost it as he passed over a stream. “You stupid boy,” said his mother, “you should have put it in your pocket.” “Next time I will,” replied Jack.
The next day Jack went out again, and found a job with a cowkeeper, who gave him a jar of milk for his day’s work. Jack took the jar and put it into the large pocket of his jacket, spilling it all, long before he got home. “Dear me!” said the old woman; “you should have carried it on ‘ head.” “Next time I will,” replied Jack.
The following day Jack found a job with a farmer, who agreed to give him a cream cheese for his work. In the evening, Jack took the cheese, and went home with it on his head. By the time he got home the cheese was completely spoiled, part of it being lost, and part matted with his hair. “You good-for-nothing boy,” said his mother, “you should have carried it very carefully in your hands.” “Next time, I will,” replied Jack.
The day after this Jack again went out, and found a job with a baker, who would give him nothing for his work but a large tom-cat. Jack took the cat, and began carrying it very carefully in his hands, but in a short time Tommy scratched him so much that he was forced to let it go. When he got home, his mother said to him, “You silly fellow, you should have tied it with a string, and dragged it along after you.” “Next time I will” said Jack.
The next day Jack hired himself to a butcher, who rewarded his labours by the handsome present of a shoulder of lamb. Jack took the meat, tied it to a string, and trailed it along after him in the dirt, so that by the time he had got home the meat was completely spoilt. His mother this time completely lost her patience with him, for the next day was Sunday, and she had to make do with cabbage for her dinner. “You nincompoop,” said she to her son, “you should have carried it on your shoulder” “Next time I will,” replied Jack.
On the Monday, Jack went out once more, and found a job with a cattle-keeper, who gave him a donkey for his trouble. Although Jack was very strong, he found some difficulty in hoisting the donkey on his shoulders, but at last he managed it, and began walking slowly home with his prize. Now it happened that in a house along his way there lived a rich man with his only daughter, a beautiful girl, but unfortunately deaf and dumb; she had never really laughed in her life, and the doctors said she would never recover till somebody made her laugh.
Many tried without success, and at last the father, in despair, said he would offer her in marriage to the first man who could make her laugh. This young lady happened to be looking out of the window when Jack was passing with the donkey on his shoulders, the legs sticking up in the air, and the sight was so comical and strange, that she burst out into a great fit of laughter, and immediately recovered her speech and hearing. Her father was overjoyed, and kept his promised by marrying her to Jack, who was thus made a rich gentleman. They lived in a large house, and Jack’s mother lived with them in great happiness until she died.
And that’s the story of Lazy Jack By James Halliwell Orchard Phillips. I do hope you enjoyed it. Bertie says that perhaps Jack wasn’t quite so lazy after all – but he certainly wasn’t the brightest of boys.
60 Comments
Wonderful stories, I like to read Farry tales
hello im from spain and im 10. I loved this story and it was great, and although there some words i dont understand,it was really funny.
What does dumb mean?
i have lost my english dictonary!!!!!
natasha i really like your stories your the best
you are the best natasha
o my god i really like these stories
bye bye
Hi Marta, Glad you like the story. “Dumb” means unable to speak. In other places (not this story) it can mean “stupid”.
thanks
rather stupid and dumb!!
i kind a like it but boringggggggggggg
Hi! I am from Algeria. Thanks a lot for these free audio tales. I’ll use them in teaching.
thank you so much, i love this site.
they’re really good, keep on doing you work .. it’s jusy great!!!
nice one indeed! Happy ending:)
i like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Grade 7 Class1!
I want to read about Harry!
What does ‘you still have lots more to work on’ mean?
It is great.
this is a good story!!!!!!!!!!
I like this story!
It’s a wonderful story!I like it very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good
Very good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a lazy boy!
I really love this story !
奇怪
457278603
不过蛮有趣
i love this story even though i never heard it
Ah!
Good!~ ~
good storyory best glta5585
interesting
you can,t think of
Jack is good-for-nothing boy! But I like the story very much!!
I’m from Vietnam. It is not easy for me to download the sounds to hear. It is always :”Server not found
Firefox can’t find the server at media.libsyn.com.
* Check the address for typing errors such as
ww.example.com instead of
http://www.example.com
* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer’s network
connection.
* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.” It always makes me mad. Please give me any advices. Thanks a lot.
Dear Kien
I’m sorry that you are having trouble downloading our stories. The internet has many links in the chain, and it’s difficult to say if the problem is at your computer in Vietnam or our web-server, or somewhere in between.
We have a folder when there are back-ups of many of our audio files on a different server. Please look through here -
http://storynory.com/audio/
and if you can’t find what you are looking for please email bertie@storynory.com and let me know.
I get your stories from itunes. What a wonderful podcast you broadcast. Very helpful to use for a bedtime story on occasions when I’m too swamped to read to my two boys. Thanks very much!
I AM 20 YEARS OLD, AND I THINK THIS IS A VERY NICE AND WOUNDERFUL STORY THAT TO HELP NON NATIVE SPEAKERS TO PRACTISE THE IMPORTANT SKILLS READING AND LISTENING. THANKS AND MY BEST WISHES FOR ALL GIRLS JUST
Lazy jack is very good
fool zhang
i like it
i loved it because it sounds like my brother when he gets out of school. he never wants to do his hhomework he never takes his meds before he goes to bed i told him to brush his teeth and hair before he went to bed but he did not ever do what he was told
This was so good! I liked it when Jack had the donkey on his shoulders and he deserved to be rich. I liked the fact that he did what his mother told him to do but he did it with the wrong food! I have never heard this before and now I am going to tell all my friends about this website and I am going to tell them this story. I also think that Natasha is a great narrator. I also think that storynory rules!
You are great dear Natascha. i enjoy hearing english every day before sleeping.
thank you
this story is so diffrent.
I LOVE IT!
It it halarious!
Nice story! I think Jack was stupid rather than lazy.Nice accent in reading!
I love that story
and I can see why you call him lazy Jack yours truly Makeisha
I like it because it is funny
my brother is lazy as well
i like the story
yours truly Makeisha
Wonderful! Thank you Natasha!
I am from Michigan my mom red me this story and I liked a lot I like the part when Jack carries the donkey
i love this story cute jack
byebye
from
me
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My wife I work with children at villages in Senegal. This type of stories helps us a lot to preparing the lesson to teach, really thanks very much of the stories
Natasha these stories are very good and i love hearing these for my bedtime.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
funny story
write more
I LOVED THIS STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love this story its the best story i have read
hi I am from Saudi Arabia and I realy intrestning when I heard this story
the story is in complete , when i download in mp3 format.