From “Favorite Fairy Tales”
JACK was an idle, lazy boy who would do no work to support
his widowed mother; and at last they both came to such poverty that the poor
woman had to sell her cow to buy food to keep them from starving. She sent Jack
to market with the cow, telling him to be sure and sell it for a good price.
As Jack was going along the road to market he met a butcher.
The butcher offered to buy the cow in exchange for a hatful of colored beans.
Jack thought the beans looked very pretty, and he was glad to be saved the long
hot walk to market; so he struck the bargain on the spot and went back to his
mother with the beans, while the butcher went off with the cow.
But the poor widow was very disappointed. She scolded her
son for an idle, lazy, good-for-nothing boy, and flung the beans out of the
window in a passion.
Now the beans were magic beans, and the next morning, when
Jack awoke, he found some of them had taken root in the night and had grown so
tall, that they reached right up into the sky.
Jack was full of wonder and curiosity; and, being fond of
adventure and excitement, he set out at once to climb the beanstalk, to see
what was up at the top of it.
And he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he
climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed—until at last he
climbed right up to the very tiptop of the beanstalk.
Then he found himself standing in a strange country. In the
distance he could see a big castle; and, as he was hot and tired with his long
climb, he thought he would go and ask for something to eat and drink.
He had not gone very far before he met a fairy, who told him
that the castle belonged to a wicked ogre, who had killed and eaten a great
number of people.
"It was he who killed your father," she said.
"And it is your duty to do your utmost to destroy the wicked monster. Go
now, and see what you can do. If you can carry off any of his treasures you are
at liberty to do so—for none of them really belongs to him. He has taken them
all by force from the people whom he has robbed and killed."
Jack was delighted at the idea of this adventure, and set
off in high spirits towards the castle.
The castle was farther off than he had thought, and by the
time he reached the gates, it was so late that he made up his mind to ask for a
night's lodging. There was a woman standing in the doorway; but when Jack made
his request, she was very frightened, and said—
"Indeed, I dare not take you in and give you food and
lodging. My husband is an ogre who lives on human flesh. If he were to find you
here, he would think nothing of eating you up in three mouthfuls. I advise you
to go away at once, before he comes home."
But when she saw how tired and hungry Jack really was, she
took him into the house and gave him plenty to eat and drink. While Jack was
eating his food in the kitchen there came a loud knocking at the door. The
ogre's wife, in a great flurry, hid Jack in the oven, and then hurried to let
her husband in. Jack peeped through the oven door, and saw a terrible-looking
ogre, who came stamping into the kitchen, and said in a voice like thunder—
"Wife, I smell fresh meat!"
"It is only the people you are fattening in the
dungeon," said the wife.
So the ogre sat down and ate his supper. After supper, he
commanded his wife to bring him his money-bags. He then began to count his
money—thousands and thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
Jack wished he could take some of this money home to his
mother; and, presently, when the ogre fell asleep, he crept out of his
hiding-place, and hoisting the bags upon his shoulder, slipped quietly away
with them. The ogre was snoring so loudly that it sounded like the wind in the
chimney on a stormy night. So he never heard the little noise Jack made, and
Jack got safely away and escaped down the beanstalk.
His mother was overjoyed to see him, for she had been very
anxious about him when he did not come home the night before; and she was
delighted with the bags of money, which were enough to keep them in comfort and
luxury for some time.
For many months Jack and his mother lived happily together;
but after a while the money came to an end, and Jack made up his mind to climb
the beanstalk again, and carry off some more of the ogre's treasures.
And he climbed, and he climbed, and he
climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed—until
at last he climbed to the very top and found himself in the ogre's country
again.
When he reached the castle the ogre's wife was again
standing in the doorway. But when Jack asked for a night's lodging, she said
she dared not give him one, for only a few months before she had taken in a
poor boy who seemed half dead with fatigue and hunger, and in return for her
kindness, he had stolen some of her husband's money and run away in the night.
But Jack begged so hard that at last she relented. She gave
him a good supper and hid him in a closet before her husband came home.
Presently there was a great noise outside and heavy
footsteps that shook the castle to its foundations. It was the ogre come home.
As soon as he entered the kitchen, he sniffed suspiciously, and said:
"I smell fresh meat!"
"It is only the crows on the housetops," said his
wife. "They have brought home a piece of carrion for their young."
After supper, the ogre told his wife to fetch his hen. This
hen was a very wonderful bird. Whenever the ogre said "Lay" she laid
an egg of solid gold. Jack thought that if he could only get this wonderful hen
to take home to his mother, they would never want any more. So when the ogre
fell asleep—as he did after a little while—he came out of the closet, and,
seizing the hen in his arms, made off with her. The hen squawked, but the
ogre's snoring was like the roaring of the sea when the tide is coming in, and
Jack got safely down the beanstalk.
The hen laid so many golden eggs that Jack and his mother
became quite rich and prosperous; and there was really no need for Jack to go
again to the ogre's country. But he liked the danger and excitement, and he
remembered that the fairy had told him to take as many of the ogre's treasures
as he could; and at last, without saying a word to anybody, he started off once
more to climb the magic beanstalk.
And he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he
climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed—until at last he
reached the very tiptop, and stood in the ogre's country.
This time when he reached the castle he began to be afraid
that the ogre's wife really would not let him in.
"Indeed and indeed, I dare not," she said.
"Twice lately have I given shelter to a wayfaring youth, and each time he
stole some of my husband's treasures, and made off with them. Now my husband
has forbidden me, on pain of instant death, to give food or lodging to any
traveler."
But Jack pleaded and pleaded, and at last the good-natured
woman, moved to pity by his travel-stained appearance, gave way and let him
into the castle.
When the ogre came home, the wife hid Jack in the copper. As
usual, the ogre's first words were:
"Wife, wife, I smell fresh meat!" And, in spite of
all his wife could say, he insisted upon searching all round the room. Jack was
in a terrible fright whilst he was hunting: but fortunately, he forgot to look
in the copper, and after a time he sat down to his supper.
When supper was over, the ogre told his wife to fetch his
harp. Jack peeped out of the copper and saw the harp brought in and set down
before the ogre. It was marvelously made; and when the ogre said
"Play!" it played the finest music without being touched. Jack was
enchanted, for he had never before heard such wonderful music, and he felt that
he must have the harp for his own.
The ogre was soon lulled to sleep by the sweet sound of the
harp; and when he was snoring heavily, Jack crept out of the copper, and taking
up the harp was about to make off with it. But the harp was a fairy harp, and
it called out loudly: "Master, master, master;" and, although the
ogre was snoring so noisily that it was like the sound of a hundred dragons
roaring at once, yet to Jack's dismay and horror he heard the voice of his
harp, and, starting to his feet with a bellow of anger, rushed after the daring
thief.
Jack ran faster than he had ever run in his life
before—still carrying the precious harp—while the ogre ran after him, shouting
and roaring and making such a noise that it sounded like a thousand thunder
storms all going at once. If he had not drunk so much wine for supper, the ogre
must very soon have caught Jack; but as it was, the wine had got into his head,
and so he could not run nearly so fast as usual, and Jack reached the beanstalk
just in front of him.
It was a very close shave. Jack slid down the beanstalk at
his top speed, calling at the top of his voice for his mother to fetch him an
axe. The ogre came tumbling down the beanstalk after him; but Jack seized the
axe and chopped the beanstalk off close to the root. Down came the beanstalk,
down came the ogre, and falling headlong into the garden he was killed on the
spot.
 |
| Down Came the Beanstalk and down came the giant |
After this, Jack quite gave up his lazy, idle ways, and he
and his mother, with the magic hen and the wonderful harp, lived in happiness
and prosperity the rest of their lives.
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ISBN: 9788834188941
URL/Download Link: https://bit.ly/2V5riZv
==================
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