Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
Jack and the Beanstalk
An English tale of magic beans and a giant above the clouds
Also in: Jakec in fižolovo steblo (Slovenian) · Janko a fazuľová stonka (Slovak)
Once upon a time, in a little house at the edge of the village, lived Jack and his mother. They were so poor there was not a crust of bread in the cupboard. All they had left was their cow, Milky-White. "Jack," his mother sighed one morning, "take Milky-White to the fair and sell her, or we shall go hungry." So Jack took a rope and sadly led her down the dusty road.
1
On the way Jack met a strange little old man with a grey beard. "And where are you off to with such a fine cow?" he asked. "To the fair, to sell her," said Jack. The old man opened his hand: on his palm lay five speckled beans. "They're magic," he winked. "Overnight they grow right up to the sky." So Jack gave him Milky-White for the beans and ran home delighted.
2
"Beans? Five beans for our Milky-White?!" His mother burst into tears of anger and threw the beans out of the window into the garden. "Off to bed, Jack! No supper tonight." Jack lay in the dark, listening to his tummy rumble. But outside in the garden, ever so quietly, something had begun to stir and grow.
3
In the morning Jack's room glowed a strange green. Outside the window stood a beanstalk as thick as an oak, winding up past the roof, past the clouds, all the way to the sky. "I have to see this for myself!" said Jack, and he grabbed the stalk and began to climb. He climbed and climbed until the whole village lay far below him, small as a toy.
4
At the top of the stalk stretched a land above the clouds, and in the middle of it stood a giant castle. Jack knocked on a door as tall as a bell tower. The giantess opened it — the giant's wife. "Run, little one!" she whispered. "My husband likes nothing better than little boys for supper!" But Jack was too hungry — and the kind giantess gave him bread and a jug of milk.
5
Then footsteps came booming down the hall: boom, boom, BOOM! "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" thundered the giant. The giantess quickly hid Jack in the oven. "Nonsense, dear — that's only the cabbage," she told him. The giant ate his supper, then counted his gold coins, pile after pile, until he fell asleep and snored so hard the whole table rattled.
6
Jack slipped out of the oven, grabbed a bag of gold and slid down the stalk home. "Mother, look, we're rich!" They bought bread, cheese and a warm blanket for the winter. For a while they wanted for nothing. But one day the last gold coin was spent — and Jack stepped out into the garden, where the beanstalk stood waiting.
7
Once more he climbed up to the sky, and once more the kind giantess hid him. "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" sniffed the giant, but his wife said: "You're dreaming, dear." After supper the giant set a white hen on the table and ordered: "Lay!" The hen laid an egg of pure gold. The giant chuckled with delight until he fell asleep.
8
Jack quietly tucked the hen under his arm and ran out of the castle. The stalk swayed, the wind whistled round his ears, but he landed safely in the garden. "Lay!" he said at home, and the hen laid a golden egg, then another, and another. His mother danced round the kitchen for sheer joy, and Jack laughed out loud.
9
But Jack was drawn above the clouds a third time. This time he hid in a big copper kettle. After supper the giant brought out a golden harp and ordered: "Sing!" The harp played all by itself, so sweetly that the giant soon dozed off. Jack grabbed it — but the harp rang out: "Master, master, a thief!" And the giant opened his eyes.
10
Jack ran as fast as his legs would carry him, the giant close behind: boom, boom, BOOM! Along the white road, over the edge of the clouds and down the stalk. He held the harp tight. The stalk shook and bent under the giant's weight, leaves flying everywhere. "Mother!" Jack shouted from far off. "Quick, bring me the axe!"
11
Jack jumped to the ground, seized the axe and swung it: once, twice, three times! The beanstalk creaked, leaned over and came crashing down. The giant fell from the sky onto a far-off field, and that was the end of him. All that was left in the garden was a heap of green leaves, and above it, once more, a calm blue sky.
12
From that day on, Jack and his mother were never poor again. The hen laid them golden eggs, the golden harp sang the loveliest lullabies each evening, and in the meadow behind the house grazed Milky-White once more — Jack had bought her back. And if you ever pass their house of an evening, perhaps you can still hear the harp softly singing.
13The End
