That was when the old man appeared beside him. Jack kept on walking figuring that the man was just a curious passerby. The man kept walking beside him. Now Jack guessed that the man was also going to the market. So he asked him where he was going. He frowned, thought, blinked, shrugged. Then he frowned again. So, I'll save you and me both a trip. So he made the trade.
When Jack got home, he was very happy. Five whole magic beans! Can you believe it? What she couldn't believe was that Jack had made such a foolish trade. So she sent him to bed without any dinner. As she went off to bed, she threw the beans out the window.
Then something happened that neither of them expected: a beanstalk grew! Right in their backyard, where she had thrown the beans out.
They couldn't guess how it got there but it did. There is one real secret as to how the beanstalk got there: the beans were magic! Neither of them knew this; they just picked the beans and ate them.
Now, this beanstalk was no normal beanstalk. It took up half the backyard; it grew lots of beans; it was so tall that nobody could see the top. As the days went by and Jack got older, he got more curious. So one day, he decided to climb the beanstalk. Jack started climbing early in the morning. He reached the top in the middle of the night. Jack was really tired. He fell off the beanstalk and landed on a hard stone walkway. Then he was asleep. When Jack woke up, it was morning.
He was awfully hungry, as he spent the last day climbing. So he started heading home. At least, he was about to when he noticed some very odd things. First of all, he thought why am I beside a castle? And why is it so big? How did I survive a fall off the beanstalk anyway? And why are there clouds all over the place? Then Jack realized that he had only fallen a couple of feet before hitting the ground: he had discovered a giant island in the sky! Now Jack was really curious. So he decided to see what was inside the castle.
He walked up to it and cautiously knocked on the door. Jack couldn't believe who answered it. It was a woman. Jack was slightly tall for his age, and he came up to the top of her shins. When he woke up, the room looked so funny.
The sun was shining into part of it, and yet all the rest was quite dark and shady. So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? Why, the beans his mother had thrown out of the window into the garden had sprung up into a big beanstalk which went up and up and up until it reached the sky.
So the man spoke truth after all! So Jack 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 sky. And when he got there he found a long broad road going as straight as a dart. So he walked along and he walked along and he walked along until he came to a great big tall house, and on the doorstep there was a great big tall woman. So she took Jack into the kitchen, and gave him a chunk of bread and cheese and a jug of milk.
Here, come quick and jump in here. He was a big one, to be sure. Here, you go and have a wash and tidy up, and by the time you come back your breakfast will be ready for you. They are really magical, you see.
Do you think it was a good idea to trade the cow for the beans? Why or why not? He grabbed the sickly hen and the singing harp, and began to tiptoe back out. But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the giant, and just as Jack got out of the house he heard him calling, "Wife, wife, what have you done with my white hen and my golden harp?
Jack ran as fast as he could and the giant, realizing he had been tricked, came rushing after - away from the castle and down the broad, winding road. When he got to the beanstalk the giant was only twenty yards away when suddenly he saw Jack disappear - confused, the giant peered through the clouds and saw Jack underneath climbing down for dear life. The giant stomped his foot and roared angrily.
The giant swung himself down onto the beanstalk which shook with his weight. Jack slipped, slid and climbed down the beanstalk as quickly as he could, and after him climbed the giant. As he neared the bottom, Jack called out, "Mother! Hurry, bring me an axe, bring me an axe. Jack jumped down, got hold of the axe and began to chop away at the beanstalk. Luckily, because of all the chores he'd done over the years, he'd become quite good at chopping and it didn't take long for him to chop through enough of the beanstalk that it began to teeter.
The giant felt the beanstalk shake and quiver so he stopped to see what was the matter. Then Jack gave one last big chop with the axe, and the beanstalk began to topple over. Then the giant fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling after. The singing harp thanked Jack for rescuing her from the giant - she had hated being locked up in the closet all day and night and wanted nothing more than to sit in the farmhouse window and sing to the birds and the butterflies in the sunshine.
With a bit of patience and his mother's help, it didn't take long for Jack to get the sickly hen back in good health and the grateful hen continued to lay a fresh golden egg every day. Jack used the money from selling the golden eggs to buy back Old Bess, purchase seed for the spring crop and to fix up his mother's farm. He even had enough left over to invite every one of his neighbours over for a nice meal, complete with music from the singing harp. And so Jack, his mother, Old Bess, the golden harp and the white hen lived happy ever after.
Printable version of this story. Alphabet Buddies. Book Breaks. Color Buddies. Cuddle Buddies.
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