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Jack and the Bull
Part II.
Well, the next day, the old woman told 'em she wanted a bull's melt
to eat and that Jack's bull would have to be killed so she could get his
melt. The old man tried to get her to let him kill some other bull. No,
she had to have the melt out of Jack's bull. No other melt would satisfy
her. So the old man fin'ly went and told Jack.
Jack didn't know what to do then. And that evenin' when he went to do
his feedin' and milkin', he was so worried he was just about to cry. His
bull came over to him, says, "What's the matter this time, Jack?"
When Jack told him the bull studied awhile, then he said, "This is what
we'll do, Jack: when they get fixed to kill me, I won't let nobody near
me but the old woman. You agree to knock me in the head and I'll let the
old woman get a hold on me, and when you go to strike me, you make a mix-lick
and hit the old woman, and then you jump on my back and we'll run away."
So the next day they sent Jack to drive his bull down to the house to
be killed. The bull came right along, acted peaceable enough, but when
the old man undertook to get hold on him, the bull r'ared around and backed
off; wouldn't let the old man come anywhere near him. Then the old woman
came out. Jack was standin' there with a big pole axe in his hands.
"Sook buck," says the old lady. "Sook here! Sook buck! Stand still now."
She came over to him with the salt gourd in her hands and he stood still
and let her get to petting him and feedin' him salt. Then she laid hold
on his horns and hollered, "Run here quick, Jack! Knock him in the head."
Jack came a runnin', swung that pole axe, and when it came down it clipped
that old woman right between the eyes, killed her dead.
Then Jack jumped on his bull's back and they lit out from there to seek
their fortune.
They traveled on and traveled on and traveled on. Jack got his rations
out the bull's horns and the bull eat grass beside the road and drank from
the springs and creeks. Then one day the bull put his head down to drink
out of a spring and a lot of blue blubbers came up in the water.
"That's a bad sign, Jack," says the bull.
Well, they went on a ways, and along late in the evenin' they heard
another bull on ahead of 'em just a-bellowin'.
"I'll have to fight that bull, Jack. Don't you get scared, though. I
expect I can lick him. You climb a tree when 1 start in to fightin' him."
Directly they came on that other bull, a big blue one, standin' in the
road a-bellowin' and pawin' up the ground. Jack slipped off his bull's
back and cloomb a tree. The two bulls locked horns and went at it. They
fought and they fought till fin'ly Jack's bull got the othertn down and
broke his neck.
So Jack cloomb down again and unscrewed his bull's horns and eat his
supper, and his bull picked grass by the road. Then Jack's bull laid down
and Jack curled up right close to him and they both went on to sleep.
Next day Jack's bull started to drink from a spring and a lot of red
blubbers came up in the water.
"Another bad-luck sign, Jack," he says. And then jwt about dark they
heard another bull a-bellowin' up the road a piece.
"I'll have to fight again, Jack. I'm sort of tired out from that fight
yesterday but I expect I can whip him. So don't get uneasy."
Then Jack saw a great big red bull comin' down the road. Thered bull
stopped and bellowed and pawed the. ground, and Jack cloomb a tree. The
two bulls locked horns and just had it up and down the road, fought and
fought and fought. Jack's bull got thronged a time or two, and Jack thought
he'd get killed sure, but the black bull would get up again and fight right
on. And fin'ly Jack's bull thronged the red 'un and kept him down till
he gored him to death.
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