Once upon a time, in a small village, a lazy boy called Jack lived with his mother. He was so lazy that he found it very difficult to move even his fingers. His mother worked as a servant maid in townhomes and earned for herself and her son. People started to call him Lazy Jack and Jack’s mother was totally irritated and worried about her son.

One day, she fell sick and was feeling fever severely. She was bedridden for two days and could not go to work. She asked her son to earn something for them; otherwise, there won’t be anything to eat.

Lazy Jack finally understood her mother’s health and their poverty. He promised her mother to bring something and went on to search for a job.

A farmer offered him work in his land and paid two pennies for Jack’s work.

Jack thanked him and rushed to home with the pennies in hand. As he was running to home, he did not notice the pennies rolled down from his hand. He could not find the coins high and low and reach home with an unhappy face.

He told the incident to his mom. Jack’s mom told him, “dear Jack, next time, you put them in your pocket so that they won’t fall!”

The next day, a milkman offered Jack a job. Jack was offered a jar of milk as wages for his work. As told by his mother, he poured the milk into his pocket and ran rapidly towards his mom.

His mom recognized what would have happened after seeing Jack’s dress. She told him, "Jack, you should have carried the milk jar on your head. Don’t worry. But be careful next time!"

Next day, Jack also worked for the milkman and he went to the milkman’s farm early in the morning. The work got completed before noon and Jack was paid a bar of cheese for his work. Jack was happy and as told by his mother, he carried the cheese bar on his head. Since it was a hot sunny day in the noon, all the cheese melted right away.

Jack told his mom that all the cheese melted. His mother told, he should have carried the cheese in his hands and asked him to do correctly next time.

The next day, he went to work on a cattle farm. The owner of the farm offered him a little kitten for him towards wages as Jack liked the kitten very much. He carried the kitten on his hands. The little kitten suddenly jumped from his hands and ran away. Jack was sad and told his mother he lost the kitten too.

His mom told him, he should have tied a rope and dragged the kitten on the road.

For the next two days, he went to work on a farm again and returned home with a huge bag of eggs. He tied the huge bag with a rope and dragged it on the road. Those eggs were broken and his mom shouted at him as he could not do anything properly.

Later some time, she consoled him and told him that he should have carried the bag of eggs on his shoulders.

Jack went to a nearby town for work and returned home after a week. For his hard work, he was rewarded with a donkey and as told by his mother, he carried the donkey on his shoulders.

A young girl around 8-years-old saw Jack carrying the donkey on shoulders started to laugh and she laughed continuously for a long time. Her dad, who was the richest person in town, was so happy and was in tears. He thanked Jack as her daughter haven’t laugh for 5 years. Jack realized his mistakes and foolishness he done then and before. But at the same time, his foolishness made that rich man’s daughter laugh. He invited the rich man and his daughter to his home.

The rich man offered them work and shelter in his hillside bungalow. From that time, he tried to do everything properly without any mistakes and they lived happily ever after!

提 要

從未見過世面的人，外出工作賺錢時會犯許多「不懂事」的錯誤，幸虧家人並未嚴詞苛責；也幸虧他一直很聽話，「傻人有傻福」得到幸福。

解 說

曾經在一個小村莊裡，一個名叫傑克的懶惰男孩與母親同住。由於他太懶了，以至於動動手指都很困難。為了她們倆的生計，他的母親在社區別墅中當女僕。人們開始稱男孩為「懶惰傑克」，傑克的母親對此非常惱火也擔心她的兒子。

有一天，她生病了、發燒。臥床不起兩天，無法工作。她讓兒子為兩人賺點錢，否則，家裡就沒有什麼東西可以吃了。

懶惰傑克終於明白母親的健康和家中的貧窮狀況。他答應母親，帶些東西回來，並且去找工作。

一位農夫讓他在自己的土地上耕作，付了傑克兩便士當作工資。

傑克謝過農夫，帶著兩便士趕回家。當他跑動時，沒留意便士從手中滾落了。到處都找不到硬幣的他，帶著不愉快的表情回家。

他把這件事告訴媽媽，媽媽說：「親愛的傑克，下次你把硬幣放在口袋裡，這樣它們就不會掉了！」

第二天，一名送奶的人為傑克提供了一份工作。傑克的工資是一罐牛奶。他聽媽媽的話，把牛奶倒進口袋裡，然後迅速跑回家找媽媽。

他的媽媽看到傑克的衣服後，就知道發生什麼事了。她告訴他：「傑克，你應該把牛奶罐頂在頭上。別擔心，下次小心就行了。」

傑克隔天還是為送奶工人工作，他一大早就去了乳牛農場。工作在中午之前完成了，傑克因為此獲得了一塊乳酪。傑克很高興地照母親所吩咐的，把乳酪頂在頭上。由於是晴朗炎熱的正午，頭頂的奶酪迅速融化了。

傑克告訴媽媽，所有的乳酪都融化了。他的母親說，他應該把乳酪捧在手裡，並讓他下次做正確的舉動。

第二天，他去一個養牛場工作。農場的老闆給了他一隻小貓作為工資，傑克非常喜歡這隻小貓咪。他把貓咪抱在手上。但小貓突然從他的手中跳了出來，然後逃跑了。傑克很傷心，並告訴母親他也弄丟了小貓。

他的媽媽告訴他，應該繫上一根繩子，將小貓在路上牽著走。

在接下來的兩天，他再次去農場工作，得到一大袋雞蛋回家。他用繩子把大袋子捆上，在路上牽著雞蛋走，蛋全都破了，媽媽對他大吼大叫，說他無法做對任何事。

過了一會兒，她安慰他並告訴他，他應該把大袋子扛在肩上。

傑克去附近的一個小鎮，工作了一周後回家。因為他辛勤工作，他得到了一頭驢作為獎勵，他照著媽媽的吩咐，把驢扛在肩上。

一個八歲左右的女孩看到傑克背著驢，開始大笑，她連續笑了很久。她的父親是鎮上首富，他喜極而泣並感謝傑克，因為他的女兒已經五年沒笑了。傑克察覺自己這回與之前所犯的愚蠢錯誤。 但同時，他的愚蠢使富翁的女兒大笑。他邀請富人和他女兒到他家。

富翁在他的山邊小屋為他們母子提供工作和住所。從那時起，傑克試圖在沒有任何錯誤的情況下，妥善處理所有事情，他們從此過著幸福的日子。