Jack and the Beanstalk

4.8

Part I

A long, long time ago there lived in a small English village a boy whose name was Jack. He lived there with his father and mother. They were very poor because his father was ill and could not work, but they had a beautiful white cow. The cow gave them much milk every day. Jack’s mother went to the market and sold this milk and the butter which she made from the milk.

This was in summer when there was much grass which the cow could eat, but when winter came, there was no grass and the cow gave them very little milk.

So one day the mother said to Jack:

“You must take the cow to the market and sell her, but you must get a good price for her, because she is a very good cow.”

On his way to the market, Jack met a little old man who said:

“Good morning, Jack. I see you are going to the market to sell your cow.”

“Good morning,” said Jack, but he did not understand how the little old man knew what he was going to do.

“I can give you a good price for your cow,” said the little old man. “Here are five magic beans. If you put them in the ground in the evening, they will grow so quickly that by morning they will reach the sky. If you go up there, it will make you rich.”

“Oh,” said Jack. He was so surprised that he could not say another word to the little old man. He held out his hand and the little old man put the five beans into it and took away the cow.

When Jack came home, his mother asked him: “Why have you been so long? I see you have sold the cow, but tell me how much money you got for her?”

Jack did not say a word, but he held out his hand with the five beans in it.

“What’s this?” cried his mother. “You have sold our beautiful white cow for five beans?”

“They are magic beans, Mother,” cried Jack, “and they will make us rich,” but his mother was very angry. She beat the boy and sent him to bed without any supper. She threw the beans out of the window. Jack who was very hungry, cried a little. But he slept very well all the night.

Part II

When he woke up in the morning and opened his eyes, he could not understand where he was. The little window in his room was all covered with green leaves. Jack opened the window and saw a very thick beautiful beanstalk, which grew high up into the sky. Very quickly Jack got out of the window and began to go up the beanstalk. It was not difficult to do and Jack went up higher and higher. Then he looked round and saw in front of him a long white road.

Jack began to walk down the white road. He walked and walked till he saw a tall white house with a big white door. It was an ogre’s house. Near this door stood a very big woman. She was the ogre’s wife. Jack was very hungry and when he saw the woman, he said to her: “Good morning! Could you give me some breakfast, please?”

“Breakfast?” said the woman who was the ogre’s wife. “When my husband comes home, he will eat you for breakfast. He likes to eat a fat boy for his breakfast.”

“If you give me something to eat I shall be fatter,” said Jack.

The ogre’s wife laughed and said: “Come in.”

She gave Jack a big breakfast, which he ate very quickly. Then he heard the ogre coming up to the house. The woman told Jack to get into a big cupboard and to stay there. The ogre came in. He was a very big ogre and he held three sheep in one hand.

“Here, wife,” cried he, “cook these little things for my breakfast. I am very hungry.”

The ogre ate the three sheep and then went to a shelf in the corner of the room and took three big bags of gold coins. He put the bags on the table and began to count the gold coins, while his wife washed the dishes after his breakfast.

The ogre counted and counted the coins and then he wanted to sleep. He put his head on the table and slept. When Jack saw this, he jumped out of the cupboard, seized one of the bags from the table and ran out of the ogre’s house.

He ran as fast as he could down the white road till he came to the beanstalk. He couldn’t go down it with the bag of gold in his hands, so he threw the bag down and went after it.

When he was near his window, he saw his mother. She had some gold coins in her hands.

“Look, Jack,” she cried. “It is raining gold! Where have you been? Quick, pick up the coins!”

Jack wanted to tell his mother about the beanstalk and the ogre, but when he looked round, the beanstalk was not there. So he understood that it was all magic. He said nothing but picked up all the gold coins that he could find, and gave them to his mother.

After that they lived very well for a long time.