Jack Horner

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

the hero of an old nursery song. The story goes that a man named Horner was sent to Henry VIII with a packet of deeds of certain manors involved in the dissolution of monasteries. Horner presented his packet to the king, but not until he had "put in his thumb" and "pulled out" the deeds of the manors of Wells. Jack Sprat, a nursery rhyme. This rhyme has been in existence for 250 years. Its form has been changed somewhat in that time. The version of 1659 read: Archdeacon Pratt would eat no fat, His wife would eat no lean: 'Twixt Archdeacon Pratt and Joan his wife, The meat was eat up clean. Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of an English nursery tale, a great favorite with little folks. It is told in many ways. The story came probably from France. It is found in Walter Map's book which dates from the twelfth century. Geoffrey of Monmouth translated the story into Latin. Jackal, jak'al, a wild dog inhabiting parts of Asia and Africa. It is a tawny, ill-scented, noisy, thievish, fox-like animal, having a long, sharp nose and a bushy tail. It hides in the daytime and prowls about in packs at night, with a proclivity for seizing unguarded kids and poultry. But in the vicinity of villages, at least, it depends chiefly on the leavings of vultures and hyenas. When the latter are feasting on the dead carcass of a goat, a camel, or a horse, the jackals sit around in a ring at a respectful distance, waiting to gnaw the bones. In a state of complete wildness, the jackal pack runs down small game or follows the nobler animals of prey, particularly the lion, in hopes of getting a bone, at least, from the king's table. From a mistaken notion that the jackals hunt up game and drive it toward the lion, they have been called the lion's providers. The jackal is comparable to the coyote of the plains. In the ostrich-raising districts of Africa the jackal is to the ostrich farmer what the coyote is to the sheep raiser of Montana. A standing bounty of about $1.75 is offered for jackal tails. It is a proverbially cunning animal. In Oriental tales it takes the place of the fox. It is the "Br'er Fox" of the Arab. See Hyena Jackdaw, a bird of the crow family. It is somewhat smaller than the crow and rook. It has black legs, a black body, and a dark gray neck. It abounds in the Mediterranean countries and northward. In a wild country it builds its nests in crevices of cliffs and inaccessible places. In England it is a familiar bird about ruins and rambling houses. It often builds in chimneys which at times it half fills with sticks before it gets a basis for a nest. It is stated that a pair of jackdaws working seventeen days once built a pile of sticks ten feet high in the stairway of a school building at Eton. The jackdaw is tamed easily. It makes a mischievous, noisy, thievish, imitative, interesting pet. See Raven ; Crow ; Rook ; Magpie Jack-o'-Lantern, a lantern carried by children, especially after nightfall Hallowe'en. It is made from a pumpkin by cutting holes to represent a mouth, nose, and eyes. A candle placed within gives a peculiarly weird light.