How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune

How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune

One morning, a boy named Jack woke earlier than usual, tied a piece of bread in a cloth, and said:

“I think I’ll go out into the world. Perhaps I’ll find my fortune.”

He set off along a road that wound between green hills. He had not gone a mile when a striped cat came toward him.

“Where are you going, Jack?” asked the cat.

“To seek my fortune.”

“May I come with you?”

Jack smiled.

“Why not? It’s more fun together.”

So they went on: step-step, purr-purr.

Before long, a dog joined them.

“Where are you going?”

“To seek our fortune!”

“Will you take me too?”

“Of course. It’s more fun together.”

Now they went: step-step, purr-purr, woof-woof.

Beyond the hill they met a goat, then a big good-natured bull, and farther on, a loud rooster. Each asked the same question, and Jack answered:

“Come along. Perhaps fortune likes a big company.”

By evening they were all tired. The sun went down, the sky turned violet, and a light appeared among the trees ahead.

“There’s a house,” said Jack. “Perhaps they’ll let us spend the night.”

He quietly approached the window and looked inside. Several strangers sat around a table counting bags of coins. They spoke in whispers and kept glancing around.

Jack returned to his friends.

“Something isn’t right. I don’t think those people belong in that house. Let’s frighten them away, but we won’t hurt anyone.”

“I can meow very convincingly,” said the cat.

“And I can bark,” added the dog.

“Baa-aa!” said the goat.

“Moo-oo!” rumbled the bull.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” cried the rooster proudly.

“Then on three,” Jack whispered. “One... two... three!”

The forest had never heard such a concert.

The cat meowed, the dog barked, the goat bleated, the bull bellowed, the rooster crowed, and Jack banged on the door with his stick.

The strangers jumped.

“What kind of monster is that?”

“It sounds like an army!”

“Run!”

They rushed through the back door and vanished into the darkness.

The friends cautiously entered the house. On the table lay purses, silver spoons, and belongings with different people’s names written on tags.

“These certainly aren’t theirs,” said Jack. “In the morning we’ll find the owners and return everything.”

For now, they decided to sleep. The cat curled up in an armchair, the dog under the table, the goat on the stairs, the bull beside the pantry, the rooster on the roof, and Jack near the stove.

During the night, one of the strangers came back to find out whether a monster really had moved into the house.

He quietly opened the door.

Two cat’s eyes flashed in the darkness.

“Meow!”

The stranger jumped back and stumbled over the dog.

“Woof!”

He rushed toward the stairs, where the goat cried:

“Baa-aa!”

He turned toward the pantry and heard a mighty:

“MOO-OO!”

And from the roof came:

“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO!”

The stranger fled faster than the wind and never returned.

In the morning, Jack and his friends asked around in the nearest village. They discovered that the things in the house belonged to many local people. Everything was returned to its owners, and the house itself turned out to be an abandoned forester’s cottage.

The villagers thanked the travelers and helped them repair it. Someone brought boards, someone blankets, someone a bucket of paint, and the baker gave them a whole basket of buns.

Jack looked at his friends and laughed.

“I set out to seek my fortune because I thought I might find a chest of gold somewhere.”

The cat rubbed against his leg.

The dog wagged his tail.

The goat bleated cheerfully.

The bull snorted contentedly.

The rooster puffed out his chest.

And Jack understood that his fortune had been walking beside him all along. It had paws, hooves, wings, many different voices, and one thing in common: friends always came to one another’s aid.

So they stayed and made their home in the forest cottage. And whenever anyone asked Jack whether he had found his fortune, he answered:

“I did. And do you know what? It really is more fun together.”

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨