Jack O’Beans
14th century, Dudley Castle, England. Jack O’Beans comprises three loosely-connected stories. In the opening story, For Four Silver Pennies, we meet young Jacob, who lives with his grandmother who bakes and sells delicious pies. Jacob’s supposed to be learning the baker’s trade but all he dreams of is becoming a soldier. Selling pies bores him and, somehow, whenever he goes to market with Uncle James, he gets into trouble.
Today is no different. His inattention nearly causes the wagon to overturn. However, he manages to sell the pies for four silver pennies, the price his grandmother wanted. Then he’s cozened out of them by a wily stranger calling himself ‘Merlin’ who steals his purse, leaving him with a bag of worthless beans. He whispers a password into Jacob’s ear which, he promises, will get him into the presence of the baron of Dudley Castle who will pay him well for the beans.
Jacob and his uncle reach the castle and Jacob whispers the password…but the baron’s reaction is far from what Merlin foretold and Jacob and his uncle soon find themselves in serious trouble.
The Arrows of Doom continues Jacob’s adventures. Here he comes face to face with an assassin. Can he warn his new friend the Forester in time? In Jacob and the Undercurrents, Jacob is pursued by the murderer; if he’s caught, he’ll die.
These stories are obviously aimed at small boys of seven plus. I agree with George Orwell’s dictum that the best writing keeps it simple, and I found myself wondering how many boys of seven or eight would understand Latinate phrases like, ‘unaccustomed undulations’, or, ‘demoted to a subordinate position.’ Why use a word like vacated instead of the simpler left? Furthermore, disinterested is not a synonym for uninterested. Whatever happened to editing?
