I
Once upon a time there was a very wealthy widow who lived in a marble
cottage approached by a driveway of the same stone, bordered with
rhododendrons. She had an only son, Jack--a giddy, thoughtless boy, but
very kindhearted, as many a hard-working chorus girl had reason to
remember. Jack was an idle fellow, whose single accomplishment was
driving an automobile, in which he displayed remarkable skill and
recklessness; there was hardly a day he did not run over something or
somebody. One day he bumped a very heavy workingman, whose remains
messed up the car so badly that Jack's mother lost patience with him.
"My dear," she said, "why don't you put your skill and energy to some
use? If only you would slay the giant Ennui, who ravages our country,
you would be as great a hero in our set as St. George of England was in
his."
Jack laughed. "Let him but get in the way of my car," said he, "and I'll
knock him into the middle of next month."
The boy set out gaily for the garage, to have the motor repaired, and on
the way he met a green-goods grocer who displayed a handful of beautiful
red, white, and blue beans. Jack stopped to look at what he supposed was
a new kind of poker chip, and the man persuaded the silly youth to
exchange the automobile for the beans.
When he brought home the "chips" his mother laughed loudly. "You are
just like your father; he didn't know beans, either," she said. "Dig a
hole in the tennis court, Jack, and plant your poker chips, and see what
will happen."
Jack did as he was told to do, and the next morning he went out to see
whether anything had happened. What was his amazement to find that a
mass of twisted stalks had grown out of his jackpot and climbed till
they covered the high cliff back of the tennis court, disappearing above
it.