Jack and Jill Went Up A Hill

Reconciliation - Mishaps, Crying, Laughing, and Finally Jack and Jill End Up on the See-Saw Together

This illustration accompanies the longest version of the Jack and Jill rhyme, entitled “Jack and Jill and Old Dame Dob.” It includes the verse about Jill laughing at Jack's disaster, followed by this verse:

Now Jack did laugh
And Jill did cry,
But her tears did soon abate;
Then Jill did say,
That they should play
At see-saw across the gate.

This illustration is extremely spare, with a huge green hill depicted on a stark white background on a two-page spread. The two sides of the hill are shown on opposing pages. The first page of the spread shows the small, red figures of Jack and Jill going up the hill, while the second page of the spread shows them tumbling down the other side. What is unusual about this illustration is a series of three inset illustrations within one side of the hill. Each inset depicts a different verse of the rhyme: the first shows Dame Dob patching Jack's head with brown paper, the second shows her hitting Jill's behind, and the last shows Jack and Jill playing on a see-saw outside in the countryside. These figures are almost timeless; they are drawn in a very spare illustrative style, so that their clothes cannot be placed stylistically in time. Their skin is a dark orange color, and their clothes are orange and pink, so that they pop out on the green hill. The message of this illustration and text is one of reconciliation.