Do you know where the word jack-o-lantern comes from? Well there’s an old Irish tale that explains it.
This is the story of ‘Stingy Jack and the Devil’.
Stingy Jack was a drunkardly blacksmith. A poor excuse for a man, he lied, cheated and stole his way through life using his silver tongue to dupe honest people. In fact, his reputation as a liar was so great that it even attracted the attention of the Devil. Satan could not abide the idea of a greater liar than himself walking the earth, so he decided to collect Jack’s soul right away.
One night on his way to the pub as usual, Jack found a corpse in the roadway. Being Jack, he stooped to rifle through the pockets for money. But the corpse was Satan in disguise and he sprang up frightening Jack to death.
“Now, your soul be mine!” said the devil.
Jack was shocked but recovered his wits and said to Satan, “Sure sure, I’ll go with you. It’s only fair. But you’ve done such a grand job of trapping me, I say we celebrate with one last drink. What do you say?”
And so, the prideful Devil agreed and off to the pub they went as though they’d been friends for many a year. And they drank their fill all night long until dawn came creeping and Satan said it was time to be off to Hell.
“Of course. Of course, Jack agreed. But….oh dear, I seem to not have a single coin on me. How will we pay the barkeep?”
The devil, proud as ever and always a show-off, said, “We’ll pay with hellish gold of course!” and transformed himself into a dazzling golden coin on the bar. But Jack, quick as a crow, scooped a silver crucifix out of his pocket and slammed it down on top of the coin. The devil was trapped in his coin form!
“Let me go!” Satan bellowed.
And Jack said, “Sure, sure. My pleasure. But...well, only if you do me a small favor.”
“Anything!” said the Devil who found the crucifix most uncomfortable. And so Jack made the Devil promise to let him live another ten years. Easy enough, thought Satan, and he agreed.
Ten years came and went and Jack only grew more and more wicked. So that when the day came, Satan licked his lips to think of the great prize he would finally claim. It was on a chilly fall evening, All Hallow’s Eve in fact, that the devil confronted Jack on the road to the pub.
“Now your time is come!” he sneered.
But Jack was prepared this time.
“Oh dear, you have me at last,” he said. “But I wonder….you know I hear the road to Hell is a long one, and I’m starving on my feet. I see the apple tree of Father O'shaughnessy over there. Wouldn’t it be wicked of us to steal some apples for the trip?”
The devil, for reasons of his own, agreed to this plan.
But as they reached the apple tree, Jack sighed “Ohhhh but I’m so short I can’t reach them! And I want to steal as many as I can since that old priest was always nagging me to confess! What to do …. What to do…”
And so, not wanting to miss an opportunity to vex a priest even in a small way, the Devil climbed up the apple tree and started plucking the fruits. But no sooner than he’d done that, but Jack, quick as a crow, had taken out his knife and carved crosses all around the base of the tree! Satan ranted and raved! And demanded his release.
“Oh sure, sure. My pleasure. But...well, only if you do me a small favor. Promise me that you shall never, ever, take my soul to Hell.”
The Devil saw that he was beaten. He’d finally found an Irishman who was as clever as himself. Rather than be trapped in a tree on the edge of a holy church forever...he agreed. Jack scratched away one of the crosses, and Satan disappeared in a plume of brimstone!
Well of course all the drink finally caught up with Jack and in time he died. And as is the way of things, his soul drifted up to Heaven. But there he was stopped at the gate by Saint Peter himself.
“What sort of fool do you take me for, Jack?” Said Peter. You were one of the most wicked men in all of Ireland. You won’t enter here!”
“But where am I to go?”
“Well to hell of course!” And Peter shooed Jack off down the dark road.
Frustrated and for once not having a clever idea in his head, Jack went up to the gates of Hell.
“Will you let me in?” he pleaded. I’ seem to have nowhere else to go.”
Satan himself came to the door.
“Let YOU in? Ha! Let a greater liar than myself into Hell? Why, you’d make a mess of the place inside of a week! And besides….I promised I would never, ever take your soul to hell, my dear friend Jack! A bargain’s a bargain, so it’s back to Earth for you….forever. But here...I’ll give you a token of my esteem.”
And Satan drew forth a coal of blue-green hellfire and tossed it at jack.
“Here! You’ll need something to light your way.”
The coal burned Jack’s poor dead hands, so as soon as he came back up to earth, he found a turnip, and hollowed it out to make a lantern.
And so it was. And so it is. Stingy Jack walks the earth, though you’ll only see him on Halloween night. If you do see him, ignore him. Because, you see, he wants more than anything to get rid of the lantern and come alive again. He’ll say he just needs a little rest. He’ll beg you. And he’ll promise you anything if you’ll just take it off his hands for even a moment. Maybe over at the pub...while we have a nice pint of cider, eh?
But don’t do it, for the moment you take that evil lantern is the moment you will take Jack’s place and wander in darkness forever more.
