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- Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 206 In this 206th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates another English folktale about “BLIND JACK AGAIN” also known as Blind Jack Goes to War. Almost 300 years Blind Jack of Knaresborough ago did not let his blindness stop him achieving great feats. His proper name was John Metcalfe, and he was born in the town of Knaresborough in Yorkshire, in 1717AD into a relatively well-off family. He was quick of mind and had a good memory and his teachers were proud of him, and prophesied that he could become a great scholar. Struck down with small-pox in his 8th year, Jack went blind. He learned to walk around his home without bumping into any furniture and was soon venturing further afield, even climbing trees and delivering messages, to the extent that his mother found it almost impossible to keep Jack in the house. He was even known to get up to mischief with local boys, and valued because of his hearing which was more acute than sighted people. By the age of fifteen he was famous throughout Knaresborough, which had grown quite proud of him. He had also learned to play the violin and was soon being asked to play at weddings and in the local pub on a regular basis. In 1732, he was officially offered the post of fiddler at Harrogate. Amid many more adventures and events, he even acted as a guide for strangers to the area. In 1745 there was great excitement in York when the news came that the Scots were marching south, and measures were taken to raise 4,000 men for the defence of England. Always on the lookout for a fresh adventure, Jack was asked to help enlist soldiers, which of course he was most eager to do. Soon sixty-four men had been selected, were trained and on their way to Boroughbridge, where General Wade's army was halting on its way to the north. Passing Edinburgh and reaching Linlithgow, the Engish army was ambushed by the Highlanders. Jack’s friend, Thornton, managed to evade capture by hiding in a cupboard. Hearing his friend was hiding out, Blind Jack went off in search of him and it here that Jack’s adventure really begins. You are invited to download and read this true-life story of the adventures of a blind man almost 300 years ago. Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories". Each issue also has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT - use Google maps. 33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities. INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES
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BLIND JACK AGAIN
An English Fairy Tale
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
Published By
Abela Publishing, London
2016
BLIND JACK AGAIN
Typographical arrangement of this edition
©Abela Publishing 2016
This book may not be reproduced in its current format
in any manner in any media, or transmitted
by any means whatsoever, electronic,
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(including photocopy, file or video recording,
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except as permitted by law
without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
Abela Publishing,
London, United Kingdom
2016
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories
ISSN 2397-9607
Issue 206
Email:
Website:
www.AbelaPublishing.com
An Introduction to Baba Indaba
Baba Indaba, pronounced Baaba Indaaba, lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed, this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on the South East Coast of Africa called Zululand, which is now in a country now called South Africa.
In turn the British settlers wrote these stories down and they were brought back to England on sailing ships. From England they were in turn spread to all corners of the old British Empire, and then to the world.
In olden times the Zulu’s did not have computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore, which had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. So, from the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and Baba Indaba would have to recite the story back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word. In this manner he learned the stories of the Zulu nation.
In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and when he could no longer see or hear, Baba Indaba became the next in a long line of Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the children of him that they continued to call him Baba Indaba – the Father of Stories.
When the British arrived in South Africa, he made it his job to also learn their stories. He did this by going to work at the docks at the Point in Port Natal at a place the Zulu people call Ethekwene (Eh-tek-weh-nee). Here he spoke to many sailors and ships captains. Captains of ships that sailed to the far reaches of the British Empire – Canada, Australia, India, Mauritius, the Caribbean and beyond.
He became so well known that ship’s crew would bring him a story every time they visited Port Natal. If they couldn’t, they would arrange to have someone bring it to him. This way his library of stories grew and grew until he was known far and wide as the keeper of stories – a true Wenxoxi Indaba of the world.
Baba Indaba believes the tale he is about to tell in this little book, and all the others he has learned, are the common property of Umntwana (Children) of every nation in the world - and so they are and have been ever since men and women began telling stories, thousands and thousands of years ago.
Where in the World – Look it Up!
This next story was told to him by a man who hailed from the small town called Burton Leonard. Can you find Burton Leonard on a map? What country is it in?
BLIND JACK AGAIN
An English Fairy Tale
A story, a story
Let it come, let it go
A story, a story
From long, long ago!
Umntwana Izwa! Children Listen!
Have you read our earlier tale about Blind Jack in “Blind Jack of Knaresborough”? Would you like to hear some more of Blind Jack? This story tells how he joined the army of the Duke of Cumberland, which was sent to fight Prince Charlie and the Highlanders in 1745.
There was great excitement in York when the news came that the Scotch were marching south, and measures were taken to raise 4,000 men for the defence of the country. £90,000 was very soon subscribed in the county, and this large sum was intended to clothe and pay volunteers during the time their services were needed. The gentlemen of Yorkshire held a meeting in the castle to discuss the matter, and Blind Jack's old friend, Thornton, was present. When the meeting was over he rode back to Knaresborough and sent for Metcalfe, whom he asked to help him enlist some soldiers, and further begged him to join the company himself, which Jack, always on the look out for a fresh adventure, was delighted to do. He lost no time in going round to the men he knew in his native town, and was ready to promise anything that he thought was likely to gain him what he wanted. He even assured these carpenters and blacksmiths and ostlers and ploughmen that they would find themselves colonels of regiments, or holding some well-paid post under the king, as soon as the war—or bustle as he termed it—was over.
