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JACK AND THE DEVIL

One time there was a boy named Jack. Jack was a poor boy, but he saved a few pennies now and by the time he was twenty-one and free, he had a hundred dollars saved up. So, h ventured out to seek his fortune and find something to invest his money in.

So, Jack, wen on and on until one da he was going town the road when he met up with the Devil. "Where are you goin' Jack?" asked the Devil. "Oh, I'm jis goin' out to seek my fortune and find sump'n to invest my money in," answered Jack.

"Well," said the Devil, "I've got a hundred dollars, too. Why don't we put our money together and go into business?" To this Jack said, "That'ud suit me exactly," said Jack.

So, Jack and the Devil put their money together and then they begin to consider what they'd invest in.

"There ort to be good money in farming," said the Devil, "Let's raise corn. You know people have to have corn." So Jack answered, "All right, that suits me."

So they got 'em some land an planted a big field of corn. Oh it growed off us fine an' before it is time to gather it the Devil said "I'll take what grows under the ground and you can have what grows on top. You see I'm sort of an underground fellar anyhow." All Jack said was, "All right, that suits me."

So that fall when they gathered their crop Jack got al the corn and fodder and the Devil got nothin' but the roots. But he was a game fellar an' took it without any kick.

The next year they decided to raise taters. Before time to gather 'em the Devil siad he believed he would take what growed on top of the ground. So they agreed that way an' when they dug the taters Jack got all the taters and the Devil had nothin' left but the tops. But he was a game sort of fellar an' raised no kick about it.

So, the next year they agreed to go into the hog raising business. They got a whole lot of sows an' a few boars an' let 'em loose in a big field. Oh, they growed off fine and then they bought pigs an' they growed an' hit wudn't long till they had the field plum full of fine hogs.

Now the Devil was runnin' short of money an' he saw that he'd have to divide his share of hogs so he could have money ag'in. So they figured a way to divide 'em. They agreed to git in the field an' each one could have the hogs he could catch n' throw over the fence in another joinin' field. That's what they done. Oh, hit took 'em two or three days to catch and throw 'em all over. But at last they had 'em all throwed over and neither one of them could figure or count so they had no way of tellin' which hogs each one had throwed over. So they didn't know how they'd ever tell their hogs apart. Jack had an idea then, "Look here, ever' hog I throwed over I jerked a quile in its tail." So they got over an' looked and ever' hog had a quile in its tail.

The End.


 
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