“There is nothing in the house to eat, Jack,” said Jack’s mother as she came out of the kitchen. “And we have no money now, We’ll have to sell our cow tomorrow.”
Early the next morning, Jack took their cow from the barn and started out to sell it. On his way to town he met a little man with a bag of beans in his hand.
“Boy, do you want to sell your cow?” asked the little man.
“Yes,” answered Jack. “I’m on my way to town to sell it.”
“I’ll give you some wonderful beans for your cow,” said the little man. He opened his bag and showed Jack the beans. They were red, blue and yellow beans.
Jack looked at the beans. They were the most beautiful ones he had ever seen.
“Here is my cow,” Jack said to the little man. “I’ll take these beans.”
The more he looked at them, the more he liked them. He ran home with the beans and showed them to his mother. But she was angry and threw the beans out of the window. Jack! Jack!” she cried. “Now our cow is gone. Our money is gone. And we have no food in the house. What shall we do?” The next morning Jack got up early. He happened to look out of the window and saw a tall, tall beanstalk. Jack was surprised. The beautiful beans had come up overnight. He ran into the yard and looked up at the tall beanstalk. He could not see the top of it. “I’ll climb up to the top and see,” he thought to himself and started climbing. Up and up he climbed, and higher and higher he got up the beanstalk. He kept climbing almost all day. At last he came to the top. To his great surprise, he saw a big stone castle there. Now Jack was hungry and decided to go to the castle and ask for some food. A tall woman opened the castle door when Jack knocked. “Come in,” said the woman, with a kind smile on her face. “But watch out for the giant. He is coming home any moment now. You mustn’t let him see you. The giant doesn’t like little boys.” Before Jack could finish his supper he heard loud footsteps on the stairs. “Here he comes,” called the woman. “Quick! Run and hide behind the door!” The giant sat down at the big table and began to eat his supper. Jack peeped out at him from behind the door. The giant ate a lot. He ate two sheep, a cow, a chicken and six bowls of soup. After that he ate a lot of apples too.
As soon as he finished, the giant called to his wife, the tall woman. “Bring me my pet hen. Quick!”
The woman brought the hen and the giant put it on the table.
“Hen, lay an egg,” the giant shouted. At once there was an egg of gold on the table.
“Lay another one!” shouted the giant again, and there was another egg of gold.
When Jack saw the wonderful hen, he knew at once that it had been his father’s hen. It had been stolen from their house by this giant. His mother had told him about the hen many times. Now Jack was thinking hard. He was thinking how to take the hen back home.
Jack looked at the giant again. The giant was playing with the eggs of gold. He was now tired and sleepy. Jack waited. Soon the giant fell asleep. Jack came out quietly from behind the door. He took the hen from the table and got down the beanstalk as fast as he could. Before dawn he was back at home.
Jack’s mother was very happy to see the hen again. Now they did not have to worry about food. They could sell the eggs of gold and buy all the food they wanted.
The next day Jack went up to the stone castle again. This time he found his father’s money bag and took it back.
Days went by. Then Jack suddenly remembered his father’s harp. He said to his mother, “I think I’ll go up to the castle again. I might find our harp there.”
“That was a great treasure of our family,” said the woman. “But watch out for the giant.”
For a third time Jack was back inside the stone castle. He hid behind a big black stove. The giant was soon back home and started to eat his supper. After supper he asked his wife to bring him the harp. It was a most wonderful harp. It could play and sing all by itself. As soon as the giant fell asleep, Jack came out from his hiding place. He took up the harp and ran out of the castle with it. Just then, the harp began to play and sing. The giant heard the harp and woke up. He saw Jack as he ran out of the castle and down the beanstalk. The giant got to his feet and started running down after Jack.
Jack was a small boy and could run fast. Soon he was down to the ground.
“Mother!” he called still outside the house. “Quick! Come and help me cut down the beanstalk.”
Jack and his mother cut the beanstalk, and down with it fell the giant. When the giant fell, he made a deep hole in the ground. Down, down deep into the hole the giant went.
And so, to this very day, Jack and his mother still live happily with the hen, the money bag and that most wonderful harp.
