Jack Horner

☞ Public‐domain character. Folkloric. First appearance in print, “Namby Pamby : or, A Panegyric on the New Verſification,” 1725.

Jack Horner is, by most accounts, an English lad who uses his thumb to extract a plum from a pie. He later becomes a sort of heroic trickster who slays a giant, punishes dishonest people by using his coat of invisibility and his magic bagpipes and then goes on to have a number of further adventures over the next few centuries. (Says one chapbook, “Whene’er he took a ſword in hand, / He made his foes to bleed.”) His most frequent association is with pie, which he is carrying, if not eating, or which is at least mentioned, in nearly every appearance. The chapbook The Pleaſant Hiſtory of Jack Horner seems to make the claim that he is the same man as Jack the Giant‐Killer as well as the Jack who is attested in “Jack and His Step‐dame,” and possibly also Tom Thumb. In the world described in two texts from the 1890s, he is a monkey that lives and works on a sailing ship; in the world of Boy Blue and His Friends, he is an American boy whose real name is Jack Horne; and in the world of Mother Mongoose’s Nursery Crimes, he is a ghoulish cannibal.

Jack Horner is “A pretty boy, a curious wit” who is “proper, ſtrait, and trim.” Many young women fall in love with him, and “All people ſpoke his praiſe” (Hiſtory of Jack Horner).

Numerous traits and accomplishments ascribed to Jack Horner in the chapbook The Hiſtory of Jack Horner mirror those of Jack in “Jack and His Step‐dame” as well as Jack the Giant‐Killer and even Tom Thumb, and thereafter are almost entirely ignored. Despite Jack’s numerous appearances in public‐domain literature, his coat of invisibility, his magic bagpipes and the wife he takes are not mentioned in any subsequent text but for rare retellings of these early adventures. He is described in three chapters as being only thirteen inches tall (although some of the accompanying woodcuts seem to depict him as a young man of normal height), but this trait is entirely absent from later stories. From the middle of the 19th century, he is rarely depicted in any way other than as a child, often living in a fantasyland among other nursery‐rhyme personages.

By some point in the middle to late 18th century, yet said to be by the time he is twenty, Jack is living with a knight and serving as his page “To yield him much delight” (Hiſtory of Jack Horner). A source from the late 18th century suggests that Jack may have apprenticed to a minced‐pie maker (Mother Goose’s Melody), something not confirmed by other sources.

Origin. Family. The nursery rhyme wherein Jack Horner first appears tells nothing of his origin other than that he is a boy, presumably English (“Little Jack Horner”). The Hiſtory of Jack Horner confirms that he lives “Near London,” and an 1899 text specifies he was born in Islington (“Pleasant Tale of Jack Horner”). A source from April–June 1818 claims that his ancestry, however, is in the north, saying he is “descended from John Owens Horner, of Manchester county” (“Critical Researches of an Antiquary”). As Jack is commonly a nickname for John, a number of texts unsurprisingly refer to him as John Horner, apparently his real name. A text from 1906, however, says his real name is Jack Horne and that he is an American boy born on Christmas Day (Boy Blue and His Friends: ch. [13]—“Jack Horner’s Pie”), an unlikely scenario as his earliest adventures predate the 1776 founding of the United States.

His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Horner, who appear in a few texts but whose given names are not revealed. An 1897 text asserts that Jack is an orphan being raised by his poor grandparents—Grandma and Grandpa Horner, apparently his father’s parents—“in an old tumble‐down house at the edge of a big wood” (“What Jack Horner Did”), but this is contradicted by other texts wherein Jack’s parents are alive and well. By most accounts, Jack has an excellent relationship with his parents. “His Father’s heart he made full glad,” notes the narration in The Hiſtory of Jack Horner, and “His Mother lov’d him well.” A 1915 text claims that Jack is the brother of Tom, the Piper’s Son, and thus by inference that Mr. Horner and the Piper are the same person. That same text portrays Mrs. Horner as a busy suffragette who henpecks her husband and leaves Jack to care for his little sister (New Woman in Mother Goose Land).

In December 1911, Santa Claus asks Jack whether his mother has ever told him not to pick out plums from pies, at which point Mother Goose interjects “Of course I ’ve told him” (“Christmas Conspiracy”). While this could be taken as evidence that Mother Goose is literally Jack Horner’s mother, one must remember that nursery‐rhyme personages are often figuratively said to be Mother Goose’s children. However, this may also be an attempt by the chronicler to link Jack Horner with Mother Goose’s son Jack who appears in her own nursery rhyme (“Old Mother Goose”).

Jack has at least one sister, Patty Horner, who appears in a text that does not say whether she is older or younger than he is (Renowned History of Little Jack Horner). A 1900 text says that Jack has an unnamed older sister (“Discouraging Discovery of Little Jack Horner”) who might conceivably be the same girl as Patty as both are said to bake a pie for Jack. A text from December 1908 says that Jack has three brothers named James, George and Hugh, with Hugh being the youngest, and that they sit in other corners of the same room and eat pie with Jack (“Horner Brothers”). By 1915, Jack has a younger sister called Rockaby Baby. The same text that reveals this also asserts that Tom, the Piper’s Son, is Jack’s brother (New Woman in Mother Goose Land), but this relationship is not mentioned in other texts wherein the two appear together. Jack has an aunt named Mrs. Prim who disciplines him on at least one occasion (“Master Jack Horner”). In one of his early adventures, Jack takes an unnamed wife after slaying the giant Galligantus (Hiſtory of Jack Horner).

An 1834 book makes the bizarre assertion that the original nursery rhyme is not in English but in “Low‐Saxon” and is thus not about Jack Horner at all but about “Jacke Hoornaê,” or Justice Allproper, a greedy and unscrupulous lawyer (Essay on the Archaiology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes). As this is the only text to make this claim, and as there is abundant evidence of Jack Horner and his adventures in other texts, it may safely be dismissed as inaccurate.

Pie episode. In 1725 or before, Jack Horner sits in a corner, presumably of his home in England, uses his thumb to pull a plum from a “Chriſtmas‐pie” he is eating and then praises himself therefor (“Namby Pamby” and others). “[W]hat a good Boy am I,” he proclaims (Hiſtory of Jack Horner and others), although sources differ.

According to The Hiſtory of Jack Horner, Jack’s sitting in a corner and pulling plums from a pie is an annual Christmastime tradition of his childhood years. A text from 1897 claims that Grandma Horner bakes him the pie on the day before Christmas to reward him for rescuing a wealthy man from drowning in a bog near their home who, in gratitude, has lavished priceless gifts on Jack and his family (“What Jack Horner Did”). According to a 1900 text, however, it is Jack’s sister who bakes the famous pie, and Jack breaks a tooth on a plum stone accidentally left within it (“Discouraging Discovery of Little Jack Horner”).

The Texts. Locales. The Hiſtory of Jack Horner specifies that Jack lives “Near London,” and his earliest adventures apparently take place in southeastern England; however, many later texts state he instead lives in some fairyland or fantasyland with other nursery‐rhyme figures. As early as 1817, … (Melincourt). According to an 1881 poem, he lives in an unspecified location with Mother Goose before going to live with Santa Claus after Santa proposes to her (“Marriage of Santa Claus”), a situation unmentioned in any subsequent story; in fact, in 1918, Jack contradictorily needs to ride a goose from the land where he lives to get to Santa Claus Land (Luck of Santa Claus). A 1906 book claims he lives with his parents in the United States, but this book contains numerous inconsistencies compared to other sources (Boy Blue and His Friends). In December 1911, St. Nicholas says he lives inside “a huge book of nursery rhymes” in the home of children Harry, Nell, Bobby and Dot (“Christmas Conspiracy”); a 1915 text (New Woman in Mother Goose Land) and a 1918 text (Luck of Santa Claus) say he lives in Mother Goose Land, with an intermediate 1916 text similarly stating he lives in Gooseland (Modern Mother Goose); and in December 1921, The Ladies’ Home Journal claims he lives in Cole’s kingdom (“There Was a Boy Who Lived on Pudding Lane”).

Developments. In 1725 if not earlier, Jack Horner uses his thumb to pull a plum from a pie he is eating and then praises himself therefor (“Little Jack Horner” and others).

Sometime in the 18th century before 1764, Jack dons a goatskin and breaks into the home of a dishonest tailor, terrifying him by pretending to be the Devil. He later has an unusual altercation with his master’s cook Joan in which she hits him on the head with a ladle and he goes under her skirt to bite her on the leg and posterior. A cave‐dwelling hermit gives Jack a coat of invisibility and magical bagpipes that compel anyone who hears them to dance and follow the player, and Jack soon thereafter uses them to punish six fiddlers and six peddlers, whom he believes to be dishonest, by leading them over rough terrain so they tear their coats and trousers and break the possessions they are carrying, and then again when he exposes his friend’s unfaithful wife as having an affair with a neighbor. In a clear conflation with Jack the Giant‐Killer, Jack Horner slays the tremendous fire‐breathing giant Galligantus by using a five‐inch sword and his magic bagpipes, and then marries the daughter of a knight who had proffered her as reward (Hiſtory of Jack Horner).

Sometime before 1829, Jack encounters a beggar while on his way to school and sends her to his home so his mother can give her his leftover pie. So impressed is his mother with his charitable nature that she and his sister Patty Horner bake him a fresh new pie (Renowned History of Little Jack Horner).

In the 1830s or 1840s, Jack again finds himself in a corner when he is punished by his aunt, Mrs. Prim, “Because he would not spell PIE,” possibly suggesting that he is not particularly intelligent (Nursery Rhymes). A variant of this story, however, describes a similar episode as instead involving Jack Jelf (HathiTrust, 1846) (Internet Archive, 1858) (HathiTrust, 1895) (Internet Archive, 1902) and so may have been attributed to Jack Horner in error.

In 1881, … (“Marriage of Santa Claus”).

In 1897, the book Mother Goose in Prose recounts a past adventure wherein Jack rescues a man from drowning in a bog near his home who turns out to be quite wealthy and, in gratitude, lavishes priceless gifts on Jack and his family (“What Jack Horner Did”).

In 1900, the book Mother Goose for Grown‐Ups recounts the original pie episode, but stating that Jack breaks a tooth on a plum stone accidentally left in the pie by his sister (“Discouraging Discovery of Little Jack Horner”).

In December 1904, … (“Message to Mother Goose”).

In 1905 … (Humorous Quartets for Men’s Voices).

In 1906, possibly on a visit to the United States, Jack is punched in the face by a Bryn Mawr alumna while he is standing on a street corner flirting with girls (Mrs. Goose). In another 1906 book that coincidentally also places him in the US, Jack arrives to school late and, in his haste, leaves the door ajar and so is the one responsible for inadvertently letting in Mary’s lamb Fleecy. The “Christmas pie” is actually a fake pie fashioned by his mother for a party at their home, with the “plums” inside being wrapped party favors for the guests. Jack’s plum contains a watch so he would not be late to school again (Boy Blue and His Friends).

In 1910, the book Rimes and Stories recounts the episode wherein Bo‐peep loses her sheep, and claims that Jack Horner and other nursery‐rhyme personages encounter her crying shortly after she has lost the sheep (“Little Bo‐Peep and Her Sheep”).

In December 1911, Jack Horner participates in a lighthearted plot on Christmas Eve to “capture” and confront Santa Claus to ask why he doesn’t bring gifts to nursery‐rhyme children. So confident is Jack that he will get the pie that he wants for Christmas that he gives his old pie to Simple Simon, saying “I picked out all the plums years ago.” Jack indeed receives a new pie from Santa, which is visible thereafter in the book in which the text claims he lives (“Christmas Conspiracy”).

In 1913, Jack Horner is the best man at Jack’s and Jill’s wedding (Marriage of Jack and Jill).

In 1915, Mrs. Horner leaves Jack to care for his little sister, Rockaby Baby, and … (New Woman in Mother Goose Land).

In 1916, Jack is a guest at one of Mistress Mary’s nightly parties on the moon (Modern Mother Goose).

In 1918, Jack Horner flies to Santa Claus Land on the back of one of Mother Goose’s wild geese in order to help her and other nursery‐rhyme personages deliver presents on Christmas Eve after Santa and his reindeer are injured in a sleighing accident (Luck of Santa Claus).

In December 1921, The Ladies’ Home Journal recounts a past adventure wherein Jack is one of the children rescued by Santa Claus after being entranced by the villainous Pied Piper (“There Was a Boy Who Lived on Pudding Lane”).

In 1922, Jack denies ever having pulled a plum from any pie, saying that the nursery rhyme is inaccurate, but it is revealed that the pig stolen by Tom, the Piper’s Son, which had only been taken temporarily as a prank, actually belongs to Jack (Strike Mother Goose Settled). That same year, he is once again one of a group of children to fall victim to the nefarious Pied Piper (Children Who Followed the Piper).

Public‐domain bibliography