Welcome to a sweet, simple story: Little Jack Horner! You'll meet young Jack, who sits in a corner with a big Christmas pie. When he puts his thumb into the pie, something surprising happens – he pulls out a plum! This old English tale is full of easy words and warm feelings, perfect for beginners.
In this Yak Yacker post, you can read the story and click on any word you don't know to see its meaning right away. There's also friendly audio so you can listen while you read, plus a few simple lesson notes to help you learn. Everything is free, easy to use, and made just for A1 learners – let's enjoy this little pie adventure together!
"Here is a pie for you, Jack," said his mother.
said Jack.
Jack sat in a with his .
He the pie.
He a , plum.
"Oh, a plum! I am a !" he said.
Jack the plum. It was very and good.
Jack, here's a pie for you, his mother said.
Jack said, Thank you, Mother!
Jack sat in a corner with his pie.
He stuck his thumb into the pie.
He pulled out a large purple plum.
Oh, a plum! I'm a good boy! he said.
Jack ate the plum. It was very sweet and tasty.
Let's learn some words from the story. These words describe the things Jack uses and eats.
- pie: a baked food with fruit inside
- plum: a small, round fruit, often purple
- thumb: the short, thick finger on your hand
- corner: the place where two walls meet
The story uses the simple past tense to tell what happened. In English, we often add -ed to a verb to talk about the past.
Some verbs change their spelling, like 'eat' to 'ate.' But don't worry - you will learn them step by step.
- sat: from 'sit' - 'Jack sat in a corner.'
- put: no change - 'He put his thumb in the pie.'
- ate: from 'eat' - 'Jack ate the plum.'
Now you know some words and past verbs. Let's see how to make simple sentences like in the story.
- 'He put his thumb into the pie.' (subject + past verb + object)
- 'It was very sweet.' (subject + was + adjective)
You have learned new words and how to talk about the past. Read the story again and find all the past verbs. Can you tell the story to a friend?
- Draw a picture of a pie with a plum inside, and share your drawing with someone!
Little Jack Horner comes from the English / nursery rhyme tradition and is best known as a nursery rhyme. This Yak Yacker article is an original learner retelling based on Traditional nursery rhyme; public domain, so the wording here is simplified for modern learners rather than copied from one old edition.
Older printings, translations, and retellings of this story can vary quite a bit. The original audience was usually kids, but this version is adapted for A1 Beginner learners studying English. Food/holiday vocabulary.
If you want to look into the source tradition, start with Wikisource.
If you want to keep going, browse more in our English section and review the A1 English Vocabulary List. After that, try Basic Questions in English for another useful next step.
