This is the way I heard it.

Little John held up his little hands and smiled. His mother saw the blood and smiled back.

Won't be long before those hands or tough as leather she left. Little John grinned and went

right back to work, polishing his father's tools, pulling each one through the mix of sand and

emery powder again and again until it was just right. He wasn't satisfied until he could see his

reflection in the steel and the tips glinted with a razor's edge. These tools were all he had left

of his father. Little John's father was a tailor who died at sea, on his way to England to secure

funding for his struggling shop. He left behind a young wife and three hungry kids. Little John's

mother had taken over the business and Little John had taken on the job of keeping his father's

needles polished and sharp. Early on, Little John understood the math, the sharper the needle,

the faster you work, the faster you work, the more you make, the more you make, the more you eat.

It was a simple but powerful equation. Little John watched his mother's hands fly,

his razor sharp needles slicing through the rough cloth like a hot knife through butter.

Years later, Big John held up his big hands and smiled. These were a blacksmith's hands,

thick and dirty, just like his mother had promised tough as leather. Big John's tools were bigger

and heavier than his father's tools but he still kept them razor sharp and polished until he

could see his reflection. As Big John packed his tools for the long trip, he thought of his father

and that fateful journey east on the high seas. Big John was heading west, though, hopefully with

better results. First by canal to Chicago, then stagecoach to the edge of the Illinois frontier.

Out west, blacksmiths were in high demand and Big John quickly became known for his meticulously

polished spades that glided through the thick Illinois clay. And farmers loved his pitchforks

with their tines sharpened to a razor's edge. They pierced the wet hay like a hot knife through butter.

...