Wikipedia
Hansel and Gretel always had a problem with Jack and Jill being the popular ones in the family. While they had survived the danger of a cannibalistic witch living in the forests, Jack and Jill were simply popular because they were blonde, chubby and cute. One fine day they decided to put an end to this situation.
Knowing Jack’s penchant for taking up challenges, Hansel presented him with a daunting task – Jack and Jill had to run up the hill behind their house, fetch a complete pail of water from the well atop the hill without spilling a drop of water from the pail. The bet was to be completed on the 10th day from now.
Given that the hill was rocky and the path treacherous, Jill knew that this was Hansel and Gretel trying to get them into a bet which they were bound to lose. However, Jack being Jack, accepted the challenge gamely.
Being the fastidious one of the duo, Jill would ensure that not one drop of water would spill out of the pail. Now all Jack had to do was to intensify his pilates workout sessions and his jogs to ensure that he had adequate stamina to climb up the hill and pull up the pail of water from the deep well.
On the 10th day when Jack and Jill climbed up the hill, Gretel who had closely followed Jack’s training routine for the last 10 days knew that this task was going to be a cakewalk for them. Given Jack’s cardio-callisthenic trainings, he would easily trek his way up the hill, draw up the pail of water which Jill would then easily carry down without spilling a drop on the way. Gretel therefore hatched up a master plan.
She hid herself in one of the shrubs on the side of the only path going up and down the hill and at the right moment stuck her foot out of the shrub tripping Jack up who in turn bumped into Jill who was walking in front of him. Net result, Jack fell down and hurt his head with a minor bruise on his forehead, and Jill also tumbled down the hill after him.
What then happened is the stuff legends are made of. Jack’s father in anticipation of this momentous event in his son’s life had already alerted the local media who were ready with cameras, pens and papers to record this moment in history. What they encountered instead was the sight of Jack falling down and Jill tumbling after him.
One enthusiastic journalist immediately coined this poem which till date is popular as a children’s rhyme –
Jack and Jill went up a hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after
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This post has been written for the Three Word Wednesday prompt where the post had to include the words daunting, fastidious and intensify and that is the reason that these words have been specifically highlighted in the post.
