Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who loved playing tricks on
anyone and everyone. One dark, Halloween night, Jack ran into the Devil
himself in a local public house. Jack tricked the Devil by offering his
soul in exchange for one last drink. The Devil quickly turned himself
into a sixpence to pay the bartender, but Jack immediately snatched the
coin and deposited it into his pocket, next to a silver cross that he
was carrying. Thus, the Devil could not change himself back and Jack
refused to allow the Devil to go free until the Devil had promised not
to claim Jack's soul for ten years.
The Devil agreed, and ten years later Jack again came across the Devil
while out walking on a country road. The Devil tried collecting what he
was due, but Jack thinking quickly, said, "I'll go, but before I do,
will you get me an apple from that tree?"
The Devil, thinking he had nothing to lose, jumped up into the tree to
retrieve an apple. As soon as he did, Jack placed crosses all around the
trunk of the tree, thus trapping the Devil once again. This time, Jack
made the Devil promise that he would not take his soul when he finally
died. Seeing no way around his predicament, the Devil grudgingly agreed.
When Stingy Jack eventually passed away several years later, he went to
the Gates of Heaven, but was refused entrance because of his life of
drinking and because he had been so tight-fisted and deceitful. So, Jack
then went down to Hell to see the Devil and find out whether it were
possible to gain entrance into the depths of Hell, but the Devil kept
the promise that had been made to Jack years earlier, and would not let
him enter.
"But where can I go?" asked Jack.
"Back to where you came from!" replied the Devil.
The way back was windy and very dark. Stingy Jack pleaded with the Devil
to at least provide him with a light to help find his way. The Devil, as
a final gesture, tossed Jack an ember straight from the fires of Hell.
Jack placed the ember in a hollowed-out turnip...one of Jack's favorite
foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal
one. From that day forward, Stingy Jack has been doomed to roam the
earth without a resting place and with only his lit turnip to light the
way in the darkness.
