Hello and welcome to Super Great Kids Stories.
Wise tales from storytellers around the world which will make you laugh and sometimes cry.
Recommended for ages 5 to 105.
I'm Kim and I love stories.
This second story today is Jack and the Magic Horse and it's told by Liz Weir from Northern Ireland.
Hello, super great kids.
Happy Halloween.
To celebrate this big storytelling day, we're giving you not one, but two stories.
This is the second of two stories.
And if you're an owlet, we're giving you two super great scary stories, plus a bonus story.
So settle in and prepare to enjoy being thoroughly scared.
The story you're about to hear is fun and we're putting it out especially for those of you who find scary stories a bit too scary.
This tale is full of magic and drama and is brilliantly told by the wonderful storyteller Liz Weir.
Now, this story has a horse in it because Liz loves horses.
So, just before you settle down to listen to Liz's tale, could you have a think about what you'd put in a story you were telling, and why?
It might be an animal or a magical creature like a unicorn.
Ready?
Off you go.
Hello, super great kids.
I'm back.
I wonder what you decided you'd like to put in your story.
Maybe a cat or a dog or even your baby brother.
I probably put a dog in my story because I love dogs and I feel like I know them quite well.
The way they look up at you with their melty brown eyes and wag their tails when you get home.
So it's easier to tell good stories about them if you know them well.
But now it's time for a lively story about a boy and his magic horse.
So let's give a warm welcome to the masterful Liz Weir.
Ready?
Mouth open.
Let the horse come galloping out.
Hello everyone.
My name is Liz Weir and I love animals.
But my favourite animal of all is the horse.
So I want to tell you a story about a boy who was really good at looking after horses.
There was a boy called Jack who lived long ago in a town called Kilkenny, which is in Ireland.
Jack's parents were very poor.
In those days you didn't really have pets, but what he wanted more than anything else was a horse, because Jack was really good at caring for horses.
Somebody could bring him the wildest horse and he could gentle it by being very kind to it.
Now, Jack didn't get on too well with other boys and girls of his age.
He was a teenage boy at this stage.
He wasn't so good at school.
He wasn't good at reading.
He wasn't good at writing.
And people in those days didn't understand.
And some people were quite mean and nasty to him.
Finally his parents found a horse they could afford.
They found a small sickly foal and they gave it to Jack.
Everybody said it wasn't going to survive.
But they trusted him to care for this foal and sure enough, he sat up with it night after night and gave it medicine and it grew into a beautiful strong, big black horse.
When it was old enough to have horseshoes put on its feet, he brought it into the grounds of Kilkenny Castle.
And while he was waiting for the blacksmith, he saw soldiers running this way, soldiers running that way.
Swords were drawn.
And Jack said, what's going on?
They said, read the notice.
And there on the wall was a notice done in that funny old-fashioned curly writing.
And Jack couldn't read it.
He said, I can't read it.
Oh, you're stupid.
You don't need to know.
He said, no, I'm not stupid, but I just can't read that.
Would somebody tell me?
A very kind old man stepped forward.
He said what's happened is the king of the north has come down and kidnapped the princess Aoife, our king's daughter.
And our king's going to give five bags of gold and his daughter's hand in marriage to anybody who can go and get her back.
That's the job for me, said Jack.
People said, it's a long way.
How are you going to get there?
I have my fine big black horse.
He'll take me there.
So Jack jumped on the horse.
Over they went, over hill and dale.
It's a long way up to the north.
And then they came to a place that was so boggy and so marshy.
The ground was so soft, even a bird would have trouble landing on it.
And Jack just said out loud, how am I going to get across this?
He was surprised when a voice said, reach into my left ear, Jack.
Who said that?
I did, said the horse.
I have magic powers.
You helped me when I was ill.
I'll help you now.
And Jack reached forward, put his hand into the horse's left ear and brought out a stone.
Throw it in front of you, said the horse.
And the minute he threw the stone, a hard straight road went right across the marshy boggy place and Jack and the horse galloped across.
Soon they came to a castle.
High up they saw a white hanky, waving outside, and Jack said, That's the princess.
How am I going to get her down?
The horse said, Take a hair from my tail, Jack.
And he pulled a hair from the horse's tail, threw it in front of him and a silken horsehair ladder came down the tower.
The princess, Aoife, was a perfectly keen and capable girl.
She climbed down the ladder, hopped on the back of the horse and away they galloped, heading for home.
But it's a very long way back to Kilkenny.
And Jack's horse was getting tired and the soldiers of the King of the North were catching up.
The horse said, reach into my right ear, Jack.
Jack reached forward and he brought out a piece of turf.
Throw it behind you, said the horse.
And the minute he threw the turf and it hit the ground, down into the bog went the King's men.
Jack brought the princess home.
Her father was delighted and gave Jack five bags of gold.
Jack said, excuse me, your majesty, was there not something about your daughter's hand in marriage?
Do you think that I'm going to let my daughter marry someone like you that can't even read a notice on the wall?
And the princess said wait, father Jack has proven he's clever, he's brave, he's kind, he keeps his word, and I expect you to do the same.
Anyway, she said, I like him.
So that's how Jack, the poor boy who had difficulty reading and writing, married a princess.
And that's my story.
Oh, thank you very much to Liz Weir for that story.
So pleasing to have a tale about someone who had difficulty reading and writing.
That's one of the things I love about these little tales.
You don't have to be able to read to enjoy these stories.
These tales were told in the days where most people didn't get the chance to go to school and to learn to read and write.
They were expected to go to work really young and earn money instead.
So the only way they could get any stories was by listening to storytellers.
Maybe you could draw us a picture of the boy on his horse going across the boggy ground towards the princess in the tower.
And send it to us at our Facebook page on facebook.com forward slash supergreatkidsstories.
And if you follow us on Instagram, you can see your pictures at supergreatkids underscore art.
Hope you enjoy our picture gallery as much as we do.
And thanks so much to our super great owlets who are supporting our podcast and make it possible for us to find new storytellers to share these wise little stories.
If you'd like to help us, you can subscribe on Patreon or on Apple Podcasts.
In return, we'll say hello to you on the show and you can hear all 300 of our stories advert free.
And you'll get access to 60 Owlet bonus stories and over 40 super great scary stories, with two scary stories for Halloween.
And you'll get access to our super great Kids Stories Express with short introductions, no adverts, purely story.
Great for listening to stories back to back on long journeys.
And if you started with this story, remember we have an extra bonus for Halloween this week.
A scary not too scary story told by Cat Wetherill about seven brothers who meet a ghost in a haunted house.
Keep telling your stories and scaring your friends.
This podcast was produced at Wardour Studios in fabulous Fitzrovia in London.
