Nursery Rhyme

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

      Jack and Jill were the son and daughter of a poor family that lived at the base of a hill. They went up the hill to fetch water instead of turning on a faucet because they lived in the old times when faucets were not invented yet. They went up there to get water from a well at the top. Their mom wanted to wash the dirty clothing, so she sent them to fetch some water. Jack and Jill were still little and they couldn’t carry a full pail of  water all the down back home, so their mom let them take a young, small donkey with them.

Jack and Jill started the journey in the morning, right after their mom asked them to go. They never liked walking up the hill, so they took turns riding on the donkey’s back. The walk to the well took a very long time because they were still young. When they reached the top, it was already noon. They finally got the water pumped up with some difficulty, drank some of it, and started to go back home.

The donkey was not very sturdy and always leaned off to the side where the water was. Once, it nearly fell over and spilled some water. After that, Jack and Jill both started walking next to the donkey, in case it did fall over and spill all of the water. They knew if that happened, their mom would be very mad that they returned empty-handed. For a long time, nothing special happened, except that Jill got stung by an angry bee.

Then two ugly accidents happened almost at the same time. This time the donkey really did lose its balance and fall, but it did not happen the way Jack had imagined it would. The donkey’s fall was heavy, and it knocked Jack off his feet and sent him flying down the slope. Jack fell down head first onto the ground. The only thing that saved him was that the ground had no rocks. His skull was severely damaged and he blacked out immediately. Jill came tumbling right after Jack because the heavy water pail knocked her over the edge of the trail. She slid down next to Jack safely. Apart from a lot of  scratches and bruises, she was fine.

Jill kept on calling for help until a farmer heard them and came to the rescue. Jill went home after being looked at by the doctors, but Jack stayed at the hospital for a few extra days, in order to fix his “crown.”