Southern Jack Tales

by Donald Davis

Donald Davis grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina hearing stories that most American children have never heard. He did not know he was hearing anything special, but he was, in fact, learning a number of stories that came to America through Scots-Irish immigrants.

These stories were still told in the Appalachians during the 1950s and centered around Jack, a universal legendary figure who, by various names, is found in nearly every culture. Jack is that everyman who encounters trials common to all: earning a living, winning a mate, subduing tyrants and ogres of all kinds. Jack wins by conquering his own timidity, by engaging his own wit, by plodding along, or simply by blind luck. Like each of us, Jack seeks to make sense of the world and to find his way in it.

These stories from Appalachia America will make readers laugh as well as teach them about the importance of caring, fairness and resourcefulness.

I grew up close to Jack
Time Jack went to seek his fortune
Time Jack told a big tale
Time Jack got his first job
Time Jack fooled the miller
Time Jack cured the doctor
Time Jack got the silver sword
Time Jack learned about old and new
Time Jack stole the cows
Time Jack helped the King catch his girls
Time Jack got the wishing ring
Time Jack solved the hardest riddle
Time Jack went up in the big tree
First time Jack came to America

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories

220 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Donald Davis (born 1944) is an American storyteller, author and minister. Davis had a twenty year career as a minister before he became a professional storyteller. He has recorded over 25 storytelling albums and written several books based on those stories. His long career as a teller and his promotion of the cultural importance of storytelling through seminars and master classes has led to Davis being dubbed the "dean of storytelling".

Reviews

[Mora Camenga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. I've had the book for years since listening to the author tell these stories at camp. I loved the stories so much my mom gave me the book for my birthday.
It's a light, pleasant read with adventure, humor and some thought provoking life lessons. Feels like hanging with an old friend

[Clay Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is not just one story as a whole, but it is several stories in one book. It is very similar to the Canterbury Tales. In the story the main character (Jack) goes on many quests and adventures and often wins prizes such as girls, gold, money, possessions or knowledge. This story was told by Elders in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and with that said the reader can notice a sort of biased twist in this book because of the Dialogue and settings. However this story is fictional, in fact most all of the stories in the book are not true. However they have many life-lessons that we can incorporate into our own lives that can help us with our everyday lives. The author of this book was from the mountains of North Carolina, he actually did not make these stories up himself. When he was younger he would sit around and listen to the older folk telling stories and he just recorded them. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. However I think people from rural areas would better understand it than people from dense areas, because of many of the terms and the dialogue. I thought that it was an excellent book and I was excited to hear that one of my fellow North Carolinians wrote it.

[Dina]

Autographed Patchwork Tales Storytelling Festival 2000

[Paul Hartzog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection of Appalachian Jack Tales.