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Jack and the beanstalk

English Folktale

There was once upon a time a poor widow who had an only son named Jack, and a cow
named Milky-white. And all they had to live on was the milk the cow gave every morning
which they carried to the market and sold. But one morning Milky-white gave no milk and
they didn't know what to do.

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

"Cheer up, mother, I'll go and get work somewhere," said Jack.

"We've tried that before, and nobody would take you," said his mother; "we must sell Milky-
white and with the money do something, start shop, or something."

"All right, mother," says Jack; "it's market-day today, and I'll soon sell Milky-white, and
then we'll see what we can do."

So he took the cow's halter in his hand, and off he starts. He hadn't gone far when he met a
funny-looking old man who said to him: "Good morning, Jack."

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

"Well, Jack, and where are you off to?" said the man.

"I'm going to market to sell our cow here."

"Oh, you look the proper sort of chap to sell cows," said the man; "I wonder if you know how
many beans make five."

"Two in each hand and one in your mouth," says Jack, as sharp as a needle.

"Right you are," said the man, "and here they are the very beans themselves," he went on
pulling out of his pocket a number of strange- looking beans. "As you are so sharp," says he, "I
don't mind doing a swop with you—your cow for these beans."

"Walker!" says Jack; "wouldn't you like it?"

"Ah! you don't know what these beans are," said the man; "if you plant them over-night, by
morning they grow right up to the sky."

"Really?" says Jack; "you don't say so."

"Yes, that is so, and if it doesn't turn out to be true you can have your cow back."

"Right," says Jack, and hands him over Milky-white's halter and pockets the beans.

Back goes Jack home, and as he hadn't gone very far it wasn't dusk by the time he got to his
door.
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"What back, Jack?" said his mother; "I see you haven't got Milky- white, so you've sold her.
How much did you get for her?"

"You'll never guess, mother," says Jack.

"No, you don't say so. Good boy! Five pounds, ten, fifteen, no, it can't be twenty."

"I told you you couldn't guess, what do you say to these beans; they're magical, plant them
over-night and——"

"What!" says Jack's mother, "have you been such a fool, such a dolt, such an idiot, as to give
away my Milky-white, the best milker in the parish, and prime beef to boot, for a set of paltry
beans. Take that! Take that! Take that! And as for your precious beans here they go out of the
window. And now off with you to bed. Not a sup shall you drink, and not a bit shall you
swallow this very night."

So Jack went upstairs to his little room in the attic, and sad and sorry he was, to be sure, as
much for his mother's sake, as for the loss of his supper.

At last he dropped off to sleep.

When he woke up, the room looked so funny. The sun was shining into part of it, and yet all
the rest was quite dark and shady. So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the
window. And what do you think he saw? why, the beans his mother had thrown out of the
window into the garden, had sprung up into a big beanstalk which went up and up and up till
it reached the sky. So the man spoke truth after all.

The beanstalk grew up quite close past Jack's window, so all he had to do was to open it and
give a jump on to the beanstalk which was made like a big plaited ladder. So Jack climbed and
he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till
at last he reached the sky. And when he got there he found a long broad road going as straight
as a dart. So he walked along and he walked along and he walked along till he came to a great
big tall house, and on the doorstep there was a great big tall woman.

"Good morning, mum," says Jack, quite polite-like. "Could you be so kind as to give me
some breakfast." For he hadn't had anything to eat, you know, the night before and was as
hungry as a hunter.

"It's breakfast you want, is it?" says the great big tall woman, "it's breakfast you'll be if you
don't move off from here. My man is an ogre and there's nothing he likes better than boys
broiled on toast. You'd better be moving on or he'll soon be coming."

"Oh! please mum, do give me something to eat, mum. I've had nothing to eat since
yesterday morning, really and truly, mum," says Jack. "I may as well be broiled, as die of
hunger."

Well, the ogre's wife wasn't such a bad sort, after all. So she took Jack into the kitchen, and
gave him a junk of bread and cheese and a jug of milk. But Jack hadn't half finished these
when thump! thump! thump! the whole house began to tremble with the noise of someone
coming.
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"Goodness gracious me! It's my old man," said the ogre's wife, "what on earth shall I do?
Here, come quick and jump in here." And she bundled Jack into the oven just as the ogre
came in.

He was a big one, to be sure. At his belt he had three calves strung up by the heels, and he
unhooked them and threw them down on the table and said: "Here, wife, broil me a couple of
these for breakfast. Ah what's this I smell?

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

"Nonsense, dear," said his wife, "you're dreaming. Or perhaps you smell the scraps of that
little boy you liked so much for yesterday's dinner. Here, go you and have a wash and tidy up,
and by the time you come back your breakfast'll be ready for you."

So the ogre went off, and Jack was just going to jump out of the oven and run off when the
woman told him not. "Wait till he's asleep," says she; "he always has a snooze after breakfast."

Well, the ogre had his breakfast, and after that he goes to a big chest and takes out of it a
couple of bags of gold and sits down counting them till at last his head began to nod and he
began to snore till the whole house shook again.

Then Jack crept out on tiptoe from his oven, and as he was passing the ogre he took one of
the bags of gold under his arm, and off he pelters till he came to the beanstalk, and then he
threw down the bag of gold which of course fell in to his mother's garden, and then he climbed
down and climbed down till at last he got home and told his mother and showed her the gold
and said: "Well, mother, wasn't I right about the beans. They are really magical, you see."

So they lived on the bag of gold for some time, but at last they came to the end of that so
Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more up at the top of the beanstalk. So one fine
morning he got up early, and got on to the beanstalk, and he climbed and he climbed and he
climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till at last he got on the road again
and came to the great big tall house he had been to before. There, sure enough, was the great
big tall woman a-standing on the door-step.

"Good morning, mum," says Jack, as bold as brass, "could you be so good as to give me
something to eat?"

"Go away, my boy," said the big, tall woman, "or else my man will eat you up for breakfast.
But aren't you the youngster who came here once before? Do you know, that very day, my man
missed one of his bags of gold."

"That's strange, mum," says Jack, "I dare say I could tell you something about that but I'm
so hungry I can't speak till I've had something to eat."

Well the big tall woman was that curious that she took him in and gave him something to
eat. But he had scarcely begun munching it as slowly as he could when thump! thump! thump!
they heard the giant's footstep, and his wife hid Jack away in the oven.
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All happened as it did before. In came the ogre as he did before, said: "Fee-fi-fo-fum," and
had his breakfast off three broiled oxen. Then he said: "Wife, bring me the hen that lays the
golden eggs." So she brought it, and the ogre said: "Lay," and it laid an egg all of gold. And
then the ogre began to nod his head, and to snore till the house shook.

Then Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoe and caught hold of the golden hen, and was off
before you could say "Jack Robinson." But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the
ogre, and just as Jack got out of the house he heard him calling: "Wife, wife, what have you
done with my golden hen?"

And the wife said: "Why, my dear?"

But that was all Jack heard, for he rushed off to the beanstalk and climbed down like a
house on fire. And when he got home he showed his mother the wonderful hen and said "Lay,"
to it; and it laid a golden egg every time he said "Lay."

Well, Jack was not content, and it wasn't very long before he determined to have another try
at his luck up there at the top of the beanstalk. So one fine morning, he got up early, and went
on to the beanstalk, and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till he got
to the top. But this time he knew better than to go straight to the ogre's house. And when he
got near it he waited behind a bush till he saw the ogre's wife come out with a pail to get some
water, and then he crept into the house and got into the copper. He hadn't been there long
when he heard thump! thump! thump! as before, and in come the ogre and his wife.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman," cried out the ogre; "I smell him, wife, I
smell him."

"Do you, my dearie?" says the ogre's wife. "Then if it's that little rogue that stole your gold
and the hen that laid the golden eggs he's sure to have got into the oven." And they both
rushed to the oven. But Jack wasn't there, luckily, and the ogre's wife said: "There you are
again with your fee-fi-fo-fum. Why of course it's the laddie you caught last night that I've
broiled for your breakfast. How forgetful I am, and how careless you are not to tell the
difference between a live un and a dead un."

So the ogre sat down to the breakfast and ate it, but every now and then he would mutter:
"Well, I could have sworn——" and he'd get up and search the larder and the cupboards, and
everything, only luckily he didn't think of the copper.

After breakfast was over, the ogre called out: "Wife, wife, bring me my golden harp." So she
brought it and put it on the table before him. Then he said: "Sing!" and the golden harp sang
most beautifully. And it went on singing till the ogre fell asleep, and commenced to snore like
thunder.

Then Jack lifted up the copper-lid very quietly and got down like a mouse and crept on
hands and knees till he got to the table when he got up and caught hold of the golden harp and
dashed with it towards the door. But the harp called out quite loud: "Master! Master!" and the
ogre woke up just in time to see Jack running off with his harp.

Jack ran as fast as he could, and the ogre came rushing after, and would soon have caught
him only Jack had a start and dodged him a bit and knew where he was going. When he got to
the beanstalk the ogre was not more than twenty yards away when suddenly he saw Jack
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disappear like, and when he got up to the end of the road he saw Jack underneath climbing
down for dear life. Well, the ogre didn't like trusting himself to such a ladder, and he stood
and waited, so Jack got another start. But just then the harp cried out: "Master! master!" and
the ogre swung himself down on to the beanstalk which shook with his weight. Down climbs
Jack, and after him climbed the ogre. By this time Jack had climbed down and climbed down
and climbed down till he was very nearly home. So he called out: "Mother! mother! bring me
an axe, bring me an axe." And his mother came rushing out with the axe in her hand, but
when she came to the beanstalk she stood stock still with fright for there she saw the ogre just
coming down below the clouds.

But Jack jumped down and got hold of the axe and gave a chop at the beanstalk which cut it
half in two. The ogre felt the beanstalk shake and quiver so he stopped to see what was the
matter. Then Jack gave another chop with the axe, and the beanstalk was cut in two and began
to topple over. Then the ogre fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling
after.

Then Jack showed his mother his golden harp, and what with showing that and selling the
golden eggs, Jack and his mother became very rich, and he married a great princess, and they
lived happy ever after.

Jack is a young, poor boy living with his widowed mother and a dairy cow, on a farm cottage. The cow's
milk was their only source of income. When the cow stops giving milk, Jack's mother tells him to take her to
the market to be sold. On the way, Jack meets a bean dealer who offers magic beans in exchange for the
cow, and Jack makes the trade. When he arrives home without any money, his mother becomes angry and
disenchanted, throws the beans on the ground, and sends Jack to bed without dinner.

During the night, the magic beans cause a gigantic beanstalk to grow outside Jack's window. The next
morning, Jack climbs the beanstalk to a land high in the sky. He finds an enormous castle and sneaks in.
Soon after, the castle's owner, a giant, returns home. He smells that Jack is nearby, and speaks a rhyme:

Fee-fi-fo-fum!
I smell the blood of an English man:
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

In the versions in which the giant's wife (the giantess) features, she persuades him that he is mistaken and
helps Jack hide. When the giant falls asleep. Jack steals a bag of gold coins and makes his escape down
the beanstalk.

Jack climbs the beanstalk twice more. He learns of other treasures and steals them when the giant sleeps:
first a goose that lays golden eggs, then a magic harp that plays by itself. The giant wakes when Jack
leaves the house with the harp and chases Jack down the beanstalk. Jack calls to his mother for an axe
and before the giant reaches the ground, cuts down the beanstalk, causing the giant to fall to his death.

Jack and his mother live happily ever after with the riches that Jack acquired.