Uncle Jacob and His Four Nephews and Nieces

Introduction Jacob was a rich Irish farmer. All his friends called him Jake. He had a very large area of land, which was left to him and his brother and sister, by their parents. His brother and sister didn’t want to stay on the farm anymore, they decided to leave and go to work in the city. Jacob loved the farm and decided to stay on. He loved animals, and of course the birds. He was sure that if he left that kind of life he’ll soon regretted. He loved the trees and the open-air, the smell of wet grass after rainfall gave him strength. The land was very big and he didn’t work all the area, he only worked part of it, he didn’t really need the money, he used to live off the land! He had plenty of different fruit trees, also had plenty of animals. The farmhouse was also very big. Before, his parents, his brother and sister, besides himself, lived there! Not to mention the dogs and the cats. Jacob had four nephews and nieces. They were the offspring of his brother and sister. He would do anything for them. Jacob was the eldest. Very often, when the weather permitted, they spent the weekend on the farm with their uncle. Although he wasn’t married, Jacob loved children. He got used to the idea that every weekend, well almost, the four children go and spend the weekend with him. When the weather was bad, especially in winter and the kids didn’t go, or perhaps one of them was ill, he gets very depressed. The kids couldn’t wait for the weekend to come, they loved the country, the animals and the birds. They were also very interested in all insects and other wild life one meets in the country. Jacob had a wish which he never told anybody about it, not even the kids, but now he decided it was time to realize his dream. But, then, his dream became two dreams. One dream could easily come true because he was rich, but the other one was different! Most of Jacob’s farmland was surrounded by large trees which separated it from other farmlands where they had large herds of sheep or cattle. Thousands of birds of all sorts and colours used to come to the fields to eat or drink, especially after the fields were ploughed, or after heavy rain. Some of the birds only eat worms and some insects. The other birds, besides eating seeds, they also eat worms and insects especially, when they had young chicks. In the fields, especially those which were not worked by Jacob, you could see a lot of squirrels going up and down the trees and rabbits looking for suitable grasses. Jacob had many animals of his own on the farm such as: cows, goats sheep and pigs, he also had a bull, a donkey and two horses, not to mention the dogs and the cats. He also had chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, etc. Jacob had to feed and water these animals every day, whether it was sunny, raining or snowing, he had to wake up very early in the morning to be able to take care of the animals and birds, and also to work in the fields, when the weather permitted it, and of course he had to take care of himself because, there was nobody to help or to cook for him. When there was a lot work in the fields, Paul and Patrick would come to help him. Paul and Patrick were seventeen and nineteen respectively. They didn’t go to school, nor worked, so they loved to go to Jacob’s farm. They did that since they were very young. Jacob always gave them something to take home, besides money, when they had earned it. His nieces and nephews got on very well with them. When the kids were there over the weekend, Mary who was eleven years of age, always stayed in the house, mostly in the kitchen, cleaning and cooking for all of them. There was no modern cookers in the house, only an old refrigerator which was older than Mary. She was fascinated with the large stone-stove charged with coal and logs, she was also surprised how good the food cooks on the stone stove. Mary was very mature for her age and very responsible. She was a typical Irish girl, a redhead, like her uncle, and quite tall for her age. Patrick, although he was almost double her age was crazy about her. The farmhouse was always very warm, even in the midst of winter. You can say, the stove was always burning, day and night, because the fire never died out completely besides, downstairs were also two large fireplaces which burnt all the time in winter, so the house always kept warm and dry. One weekend in spring nearly ended in disaster. Jacob had warned the kids not to wander too close to the ponds, as they were very slippery. However, kids remain kids, and forgot all the warnings Jacob had given them, but with luck and the help of one of the horses it all ended well. Jacob’s brother decided to sell part of his land which was next to Jake’s. Jacob decided to buy it from his brother Michael. Jacob wanted the land to plant more trees and leave it for the pleasure of the birds and other animals. One of the dreams Jacob had was to go for a holiday abroad. Jake talked to his friends about it, they all encouraged him to go. One of his older friends told him, ‘Jake, the more you keep thinking about it the more you leave it’. Jacob decided to leave Paul and Patrick to take care of everything while he was abroad. Jacob revealed only part of his dream, because his main dream was to go to an Arab country and buy an Arab Stallion to race him in the Irish top races.