Sally Cornwelles

Sally Cornwelles
Biographical information
Status	Deceased (presumably killed by an unknown illness)
Species	Human (mundy)
Gender	Female
Homeland	Mundane world
Appearances
Only issue	Fables #11 — "Bag o' Bones" (flashback)
Original source	King's daughter from "Soldier Jack"

“	Are you suggesting that I indulge in carnal congress with you? I intend to go virtuous to my Lord! You're no gentleman, sir!	„
	~ Sally Cornwelles to Jack Horner, Fables #11 — "Bag o' Bones"

Sally Cornwelles is a mundy who appears in a flashback story from the 1800s in Fables #11 — "Bag o' Bones." She had a brief romance with Jack Horner after he saved her life during the American Civil War.

History

During the Civil War, Jack had hopes of marrying a Southern belle with a large plantation. After cheating Nick Slick out of his magic bag, he came upon Sally's empty mansion with herself in bed. She said she was awaiting death, as it came for members of her family at her age. Jack offered to stop death if she'd sleep with him. Not really believing him, she agreed. When Death came for her, Jack used his magic bag and trapped him in the sack. Overjoyed and feeling alive, she couldn't believe that he did it and called him a hero. Jack didn't forget the deal, and Sally agreed, but she demanded he take a bath first.

After having their night together, Jack tiredly shoved Sally to cook him breakfast. Annoyed, Sally reluctantly did what he requested and picked a chicken to cook. However, upon trying to cut off it's head, she saw the price of bagging death. Every animal she killed for food was still alive, with Death to take them. When she came to Jack all bloody, he soon saw his former soldiers now undead, angrily shouting at him for taking Death. He desperately released Death. Death was not really angry, as he was relieved to have a nap and agreed not take Sally as he went back to work. Sally would eventually leave Jack for a musician, and Jack would someday lose the magic bag. Sometime after, it is presumed that since Sally was only given another year to live, she died sometime after by the same disease.

Original source

Sally Cornwelles is based on the King's daughter from the Appalachian folk tale "Soldier Jack," one of the more obscure Jack tales.

In the original tale, Jack leaves the army following the war, and his only payment on discharge is two loaves of bread. As he travels down the path, an elderly man requests some food, and Jack presents him with a single loaf of bread. As a gesture of gratitude, the stranger hands him a mysterious sack that can capture anything it is instructed to, telling him that all he has to do is hold the bag open with one hand and slap it with the other, and say "Whickety whack! Into my sack!" The old man also gives him a glass vial through which he can spot Death. The bag proves useful when Jack is able to capture three devils from a haunted house that he wins as the prize for spending the night there.

Eventually, Jack falls in love with the daughter of a king and she soon falls ill. Being able to see Death, he captures it inside his enchanted bag in order to save his beloved from inevitable mortality. The King is delighted and Jack heartened to have his beloved alive. The only issue they face now is that no one can die. Jack and all the others live for centuries with their aged, weary bodies hunched over. Jack meets an elderly person one day who expresses their weariness and wishes for death, but can't because some fool had managed to capture Death six hundred years ago, leaving no one able to pass away from their earthly life. In order to restore balance, Jack liberates his captive from the sack and finally brings an end to everyone's suffering, and everyone can die in peace.