“Jack and the Bean-stalk.” The Book of Fables and Folk Stories, Horace Elisha Scudder, Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1919, pp. 41-55.

Tale Summary

In the days of King Alfred, in a country village in England, there was a poor woman who had a single son named Jack. She never set him to work, and eventually they were so poor, that they only had their cow left. Jack felt badly that he had not done more, and offered to bring the cow to town to sell, and reluctantly, his mother agreed. Before he made it into town, he met a butcher who offered him a hatful of beans in exchange for the animal. Gladly, he took them and gave the cow away. His mother was distraught and threw the beans out the window, and the two of them went to bed without a bite to eat. The next morning, Jack saw that the beans had sprouted and created a ladder into the clouds. He was curious, climbed for hours, and reached the top where he saw not a living creature. After a while, he met a beautiful lady, and told her all about his journey. She asked him if he remembered his father, and he told her that no, his mother always wept when he brought her up. The lady said that she would explain about him. She told Jack that she was really a fairy, and his father used to be under her care, but she was careless and lost her powers for a time, making her helpless to stop the giant from killing him for his money. The giant told Jack’s mother that she must never speak of her late husband, or else he would kill her and her child. The fairy said that she got her powers back just yesterday, and so set into place the magical events that led Jack to climb the beanstalk. She told him to keep going and find the giant’s house, and that she would help him when the time came, but not to tell his mother anything. Jack traveled until he found the place, and although the giant’s wife warned him of her husband, he pleaded for hospitality and was let in the house. After Jack noticed cages of people, there was a knock on the door, and the boy was hidden in the oven. From there he observed a hen which laid golden eggs. When the giant fell asleep, he took it, and made it back home where it would provide for his mother. The next day he returned, after changing his appearance so the wife would not know him as the thief, and again begged for shelter. He was let in and hid in a closet while the giant demanded his wife bring him bags of money to amuse himself with. Jack knew it was his father’s money, and when the giant fell asleep, ran off with it, giving the guard dog a scrap of meat. After the two day’s journey home (the money was very heavy) he found his mother was sick by his absence, but began feeling better with him around, and so they stayed for three years. But Jack could not stop thinking of his father, and one day returned to the giant’s house, reluctantly let in by the wife and hid in a copper boiler. He saw a harp which played itself, and ran off with it when the giant fell asleep. But the harp called out to its master, and the giant chased Jack, knowing he had stolen his hen and money bags, also. Jack hurried down the beanstalk and called to his mother for a hatchet, which he used to sever the stalk. The giant fell to his death. The fairy then appeared to tell Jack’s mother all that had happened and how brave her son had been.