Jack And The Jar Of Cream Analysis

The North American Märchen arrived on the shores of America in multiple families and was spread from generation to generation and from community to community as the families spread out and migrated. Debates may exist whether North American Märchen migrated from the Appalachians to the Ozarks or if European settlers into the Ozarks brought the Märchen with them from Europe. Margaret Read McDonald, noted folklorist and lifetime children’s librarian shares the history of the Ozarks with the French settlers fifty years before permanent European settlement of the Appalachians. A large migration of Germans settled into the Ozarks in the 1820s which was followed by a large scale migration from the Appalachians into the region. McDonald states that three folk lorists …show more content…
Many of the stores were modified later for polite company, such as Hardy Hard Head, which originally had the name Hardy Hard-Ass (McCarthy 10). An example of an adult version of a Jack tale most likely told when the men were gathered without women and children around was Jack and the Jar of Cream. A synopsis of the tale recounts Jack’s suspicion that his wife was being unfaithful while he was working. Jack, the ever creative fellow, devised a plan where he put a jar of cream under the bed, and suspended a spoon on a string from the mattress over the jar. On his return that night, he intuited that if the spoon was covered in cream, his wife was having amorous activities on the bed during his absence. When he got home, he pulled out the jar of cream and it had been churned into butter. Another tale of Jack and his Step dame includes the magical gift of special endowment to Jack’s manhood and virility. Early version of Jack and the Step Dame or Stepmother include a third magical gift that whenever his stepmother glares at him, she will have uncontrollable flatulence