Jack and the Beanstalk

Once upon a time there lived a poor widow who had an only son named Jack, and a cow named Milky-White. The milk that Milky-White gave each morning was all they had to live on, for the widow carried it to market every day and sold it. But one morning Milky-White gave no milk at all, and the widow did not know what to do.

"What shall we do, what shall we do?" cried the widow, wringing her hands.

"Cheer up, Mother. I will go and find work somewhere," said Jack.

"We have tried that before, and no one would take you on," said his mother. "We must sell Milky-White and see what we can do with the money, perhaps start a little shop."

"Very well, Mother," said Jack. "It is market day today. I will sell Milky-White, and then we shall see."

So Jack took the cow's halter in his hand and set off. He had not gone far when he met a strange little old man, who said to him, "Good morning, Jack."

"Good morning to you," said Jack, and he wondered how the old man knew his name.

"And where are you off to this fine day?" asked the man.

"I am going to market to sell our cow."

"Now, you look just the sort of clever lad who could sell a cow," said the man. "Tell me, do you know how many beans make five?"

"Two in each hand and one in your mouth," said Jack, quick as anything.

"Right you are," said the man, and he pulled from his pocket a handful of strange, brightly colored beans. "Here they are, the very beans themselves. Since you are so sharp, I do not mind trading you these beans for your cow."

"Not likely," said Jack. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

"Ah, but you do not know what these beans can do," said the man. "Plant them tonight, and by morning they will grow right up to the sky."

"Truly?" said Jack.

"Truly. And if it does not come true, you may have your cow back again."

"Done," said Jack, and he handed over Milky-White's halter and pocketed the beans.

Jack had not walked far, so it was still light when he came home.

"Back already, Jack?" said his mother. "I see you have not got Milky-White, so you must have sold her. How much did you get?"

"You will never guess, Mother," said Jack.

"No indeed. Good boy! Five pounds? Ten? Fifteen? Surely not twenty!"

"I told you that you could never guess. Look at these beans instead. They are magic. Plant them tonight and..."

"What!" cried Jack's mother. "Have you been such a fool as to give away my Milky-White, the best milker in the whole parish, for a handful of worthless beans? Take that, and that, and that! And out these beans go, this very minute, out of the window with them! Now off to bed with you, and not a bite or a sup shall you have tonight."

So Jack climbed up to his little room in the attic, and sad and sorry he felt, more for his mother's sake than for the loss of his supper. At last he fell asleep.

When he woke, the room looked strange indeed. The sun was shining brightly into part of it, while the rest lay in deep shadow. Jack sprang up, dressed quickly, and went to the window. And what did he see? The beans his mother had thrown into the garden had grown, in a single night, into an enormous beanstalk that climbed up and up and up until it vanished into the sky. So the old man had spoken the truth after all.

The beanstalk grew so close to Jack's window that all he had to do was climb out onto it, for it was woven together like a great ladder. Up Jack climbed, and climbed, and climbed, until at last he reached the very top, where he found a long, straight road leading off into the distance. He walked and walked until he came to a tall house, and standing on the doorstep was a woman as tall as the house itself.

"Good morning," said Jack politely. "Might I trouble you for some breakfast?" For he had eaten nothing since the morning before and was terribly hungry.

"Breakfast, is it?" said the great tall woman. "It is breakfast you will be, if you do not hurry away from here. My husband is an ogre, and there is nothing he likes better than a boy broiled on toast. You had best be moving on before he comes home."

"Oh, please," said Jack. "I have had nothing to eat since yesterday morning. I would as soon be broiled as die of hunger."

Now the ogre's wife was not, in truth, so unkind as she seemed, and she took Jack into her kitchen and gave him bread and cheese and a jug of milk. But he had barely begun to eat when the whole house shook with a great thump, thump, thump.

"Goodness me, that is my husband!" cried the ogre's wife. "Quick, get in here!" And she bundled Jack into the oven just as the ogre came stamping in.

He was a giant of a man, with three calves hanging from his belt, which he unhooked and threw down upon the table. "Wife," he growled, "broil me a couple of these for my breakfast. But wait, what is this I smell?

Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

"Nonsense, my dear, you are dreaming," said his wife. "Or perhaps you smell the leftovers of that boy you enjoyed so much yesterday. Go and wash and tidy yourself, and your breakfast will be ready when you return."

So the ogre went off, and Jack was about to leap from the oven and make his escape when the wife told him to wait, for the ogre always napped after his breakfast. Sure enough, once he had eaten, the ogre fetched two bags of gold from a great chest and sat counting the coins until his head began to nod, and soon he was snoring so loudly the whole house trembled.

Then Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoe, snatched up one bag of gold as he passed, and hurried away to the beanstalk. He tossed the bag down before him, and it landed safely in his mother's garden. Then Jack climbed down and down until at last he reached home, where he showed his mother the gold. "Well, Mother," he said, "was I not right about the beans? They truly are magic."

They lived comfortably on the gold for a good while, but at last it ran out, and Jack decided to try his luck once more. Early one morning he climbed the beanstalk again, up and up and up, until he reached the road at the top and came once more to the tall house, where the tall woman still stood upon the step.

"Good morning," said Jack boldly. "Could you spare me something to eat?"

"Be off, boy, or my husband will eat you for breakfast," said the woman. "But are not you the very lad who came here before? On that very day my husband lost one of his bags of gold!"

"How strange," said Jack. "I might tell you something about that, but I am too hungry to speak until I have eaten."

The woman was curious enough that she brought him in and fed him, but he had scarcely begun his meal when thump, thump, thump came the ogre's step once more, and Jack was hidden in the oven just as before. In came the ogre, crying his rhyme again, and after devouring three roasted oxen for his breakfast, he called for his hen that laid eggs of gold. "Lay," said the ogre, and the hen laid an egg of pure gold. Soon the ogre's head began to nod, and he fell asleep, snoring until the house shook.

Jack crept from the oven, snatched up the golden hen, and was gone in a flash. But this time the hen gave a loud cackle that woke the ogre, and just as Jack slipped from the house he heard the giant roaring, "Wife, wife, what have you done with my hen?" But that was all Jack heard, for he ran to the beanstalk and climbed down as fast as any boy ever climbed. At home he showed his mother the wonderful hen, and when he said "Lay," it laid a golden egg every single time.

Still Jack was not content, and before long he made up his mind to try his luck a third time. Early one morning he climbed the beanstalk once more, up and up and up, until he reached the top. But this time he knew better than to walk straight up to the ogre's door. Instead he waited behind a bush until he saw the ogre's wife go out to fetch water, and then he slipped into the house and hid himself inside the great copper kettle. He had not been there long when he heard the familiar thump, thump, thump, and in came the ogre with his wife close behind.

"Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" roared the ogre. "I smell him, wife, I smell him!"

"Do you, my dear?" said his wife. "If it is that little rascal who stole your gold and your hen, he is sure to be hiding in the oven." And they both rushed to look, but Jack was not there, for once, and the ogre's wife scolded her husband for his confusion, reminding him that the boy he had eaten the night before was surely what he smelled.

So the ogre sat down and ate his breakfast, though every so often he muttered, "I could have sworn..." and got up to search the cupboards and the larder, never once thinking to look inside the copper kettle.

When breakfast was done, the ogre called for his golden harp, and when it was set before him he commanded, "Sing," and the harp sang the sweetest music Jack had ever heard, until at last the ogre fell fast asleep and began to snore like rolling thunder.

Then Jack lifted the lid of the kettle as quietly as a mouse, crept across the floor on his hands and knees, and caught hold of the golden harp before dashing for the door. But the harp cried out, "Master! Master!" and the ogre woke just in time to see Jack fleeing with it.

Jack ran as fast as his legs would carry him, the ogre thundering close behind, but Jack knew the way and had gained a good start. When he reached the beanstalk, the ogre was only twenty yards off, and just as the giant came to the edge, he saw Jack vanish over the side, climbing down for dear life. The ogre hesitated, wary of trusting his great weight to such a ladder, and that hesitation gave Jack a little more time. But then the harp cried out again, "Master! Master!" and the ogre swung himself onto the beanstalk, which shook and swayed beneath him. Down climbed Jack, and down after him climbed the ogre.

By the time Jack was nearly home, he called out, "Mother! Mother! Bring me the axe, bring me the axe!" His mother came running with the axe in her hand, but when she reached the beanstalk and looked up, she froze in fright, for there was the ogre, already climbing down below the clouds.

Jack leaped to the ground, seized the axe, and struck the beanstalk with all his might, cutting it half through. The ogre felt the great stalk shudder and stopped to see what was happening. Jack swung the axe once more, and the beanstalk split clean in two and toppled over, and the ogre fell with it, all the way down, and that was the end of him.

Then Jack showed his mother the golden harp, and between the harp's beautiful songs and the golden eggs, Jack and his mother grew very rich indeed. In time Jack married a great princess, and they all lived happily ever after.