Many years ago I read a Jack tale that went something like this:
-Jack’s friend was squatting on some land.
-A developer from Back East bought it and came to kick the friend off the land.
-Jack disguised himself as the friend and challenged the developer to a contest of wits: the developer asks three questions, and if he answers any of them wrong, he’ll give up claim to the land, but if he answers all three right, the developer gives up claim. The developer, seeing a dumb hillbilly, agreed.
-The first two questions are: “How many stars are in the sky?” and “How many truckloads of sand are on all the beaches in the world?” Jack’s answers are, “Three trillion and one–if you don’t believe me, count 'em yourself,” and, "One, if it’s a big enough truck.
-I don’t remember the third question (although I remember the answer). It may have been, “Tryin to pull one over on me? Just who do you think you are?”
-Whatever the question is, Jack’s answer is, “I’m Jack, and that’s your third question,” and the developer, bested, leaves in a rage.
Has anyone encountered this story, or one like it, before? Do you know where I can find a copy of it?
That is awesome–obviously not the tale I read lo these many years back, but just as obviously an ancestor of the one I read. Tomorrow I’m teaching my students about Scots-Irish immigration to Appalachia, and I wanted to tell them a Jack Tale as part of the lesson; now I can add to it a digression on how folk tales evolve. Thank you!
Doesn’t sound like a traditional one. No relevant mention of sand or stars in the top several books searchable on Google. (I have a copy of the second one, Jack Tales and Mountain Yarns: As Told by Orville Hicks, but have never gotten around to reading it.)
Bah–the best traditional tales are adaptations of even older stuff. Using Reno Nevada’s excellent clue, I’ve tracked down a whole family of similar tales. I still haven’t tracked down the version I read way back when, but given the close similarities, I have every reason to think it’s traditional; some geezer had probably heard the King John story (or a related one) and turned it into a Jack tale, which is good enough to be traditional!
To clarify my answer, I first found this discussionof the various versions. The above linked seems to be the only one with both “stars in the sky” and “buckets o’dirt.”