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Saturday, 27 October 2007

An old story of Jack of Kent

Jack of Kent was known to have a subtle and provocative soul.

This made his soul all the more attractive to the powerful, who wanted him dearly for their side, both as an ally and a trophy.

One day the Devil met with Jack.

The Devil said he wanted Jack's soul whether Jack was a good man or a bad man, and indeed whether Jack was to be buried inside or outside a church.

And Jack could happily accept, as he was neither a good man nor a bad man. Indeed Jack had long arranged for his own tomb to be set fully within the thickness of a church wall.



(Derived from a tale recorded in the Dictionary of English Folklore, Simpson and Roud, Oxford, 2003)