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Jack is a brave lad who has many exciting adventures taking on a wicked giant. Perhaps you didn’t know that his father was a brave knight whose castle had been stolen by the giant. Andrew Lang gives us all these details in simple and direct language. It is a gripping tale, but rather long which is why we have broken it up into two parts. Part two is here.

Read by Natasha Gostwick. Duration 20 minutes.

ONCE upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a little cottage with her only son Jack.
Jack was a happy, thoughtless boy, but very kind-hearted and affectionate. There had been a hard winter, and after it the poor woman had suffered from fever and aches and pains. Jack did no work as yet, and by degrees they grew dreadfully poor. The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, `I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her.’

Jack liked going to market to sell the cow very much; but as he was on the way, he met a butcher who had some beautiful beans in his hand. Jack stopped to look at them, and the butcher told the boy that they were of great value, and persuaded the silly lad to sell the cow for these beans.
When he brought them home to his mother instead of the money she expected for her nice cow, she was very vexed and shed many tears, scolding Jack for his folly. He was very sorry, and mother and son went to bed very sadly that night; their last hope seemed gone.

At daybreak Jack rose and went out into the garden.

`At least,’ he thought, `I will sow the wonderful beans. Mother says that they are just common old beans, and nothing else; but I may as well sow them.’

So he took a piece of stick, and made some holes in the ground, and put in the beans.

That day they had very little dinner, and went sadly to bed, knowing that for the next day there would be none and Jack, unable to sleep from grief and worry, got up at day-dawn and went out into the garden.

What was his amazement to find that the beans had grown up in the night, and climbed up and up till they covered the high cliff that sheltered the cottage, and disappeared above it! The stalks had twined and twisted themselves together till they formed quite a ladder.

`It would be easy to climb it,’ thought Jack.

And, having thought of the experiment, he at once resolved to carry it out, for Jack was a good climber. However, after his late mistake about the cow, he thought he had better consult his mother first.

So Jack called his mother, and they both gazed in silent wonder at the Beanstalk, which was not only of great height, but was thick enough to bear Jack’s weight.

`I wonder where it ends,’ said Jack to his mother; `I think I will climb up and see.’

His mother wished him not to venture up this strange ladder, but Jack coaxed her to give her consent to the attempt, for he was certain there must be something wonderful in the Beanstalk; so at last she yielded to his wishes.

Jack instantly began to climb, and went up and up on the ladder- like bean till everything he had left behind him–the cottage, the village, and even the tall church tower–looked quite little, and still he could not see the top of the Beanstalk.

Jack felt a little tired, and thought for a moment that he would go back again; but he was a very persevering boy, and he knew that the way to succeed in anything is not to give up. So after resting for a moment he went on.

After climbing higher and higher, till he grew afraid to look down for fear he should be giddy, Jack at last reached the top of the Beanstalk, and found himself in a beautiful country, finely wooded, with beautiful meadows covered with sheep. A crystal stream ran through the fields; not far from the place where he had got off the Beanstalk stood a fine, strong castle.
Jack wondered very much about why never heard of or seen this castle before; but when he thought about it, he saw that it was really a long, log way off from his little village.

While Jack was standing looking at the castle, a very strange- looking woman came out of the wood, and advanced towards him.
She wore a pointed cap of quilted red satin turned up with fur, her hair streamed loose over her shoulders, and she walked with a staff. Jack took off his cap and made her a bow.

`If you please, ma’am,’ said he, `is this your house?’

`No,’ said the old lady. `Listen, and I will tell you the story of that castle.

`Once upon a time there was a noble knight, who lived in this castle, which is on the borders of Fairyland. He had a fair and beloved wife and several lovely children: and as his neighbours, the little people, were very friendly towards him, they gave him many excellent and precious gifts.
`The word got round that the knight was very rich and possessed fabulous treasures, and a monstrous giant who very very wicked, decided to come and steal them.

`So the giant bribed a cook to let him inside the castle, when the knight was in bed and asleep, and he killed him as he lay. Then he went to the part of the castle which was the nursery, and also killed all the poor little ones he found there.

`Happily for her, the lady was not to be found. She had gone with her infant son, who was only two or three months old, to visit her old nurse, who lived in the valley; and she had to stay there all night because of a storm.

`The next morning, as soon as it was light, one of the servants at the castle, who had managed to escape, came to tell the poor lady of the sad fate of her husband and her pretty babes. She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.

`The lady gave way to this reasoning, and agreed to hide at her nurse’s house, for the servant told her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, he would kill both her and her baby. Years rolled on. The old nurse died, leaving her cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to her poor lady, who dwelt in it, working as a peasant for her daily bread. She and her little son used to drink the milk of a cow, which she had bought with the little money she had with her. . There was a nice little garden attached to the cottage, in which they grew peas, beans, and cabbages, and the lady was not ashamed to go out at harvest time, and work in the fields .

The lady in the red cap told this whole story, and ended up by saying,
`Jack, The poor lady in the story is your mother. The knight whom the giant murdered was your father. This castle was once his, and must again be yours.”

Jack uttered a cry of surprise.

`My mother! oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor father! My dear mother!’
`Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But the task is a very difficult one, and full of danger , Jack. Have you courage to undertake it?’
`I fear nothing when I am doing right,’ said Jack.

`Then,’ said the old lady in the red cap, `you are one of those who slay giants. You must get into the castle, and if possible get hold of a hen that lays golden eggs, and a harp that talks. Remember, all that the giant has is really yours.’ As she stopped speaking, the lady of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course Jack knew she was a fairy.

Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he advanced, and blew the horn which hung at the castle portal. The door was opened in a minute or two by a frightful giantess, with one great eye in the middle of her forehead.

As soon as Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught him, and dragged him into the castle.

`Ho, ho!’ she laughed terribly. `You didn’t expect to see me here, that is clear! No, I shan’t let you go again. I am weary of my life. I am so overworked, and I don’t see why I should not have a page as well as other ladies. And you shall be my boy. You shall clean the knives, and black the boots, and make the fires, and help me generally when the giant is out. When he is at home I must hide you, for he has eaten up all my servant boys , and you would be a dainty morsel, my little lad.’

While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The poor boy was very much frightened, as I am sure you and I would have been in his place. But he struggled to be brave and make the best of things.

`I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you, madam,’ he said, `only I beg you will be good enough to hide me from your husband, for I should not like to be eaten at all.’

`That’s a good boy,’ said the Giantess, nodding her head; `it is lucky for you that you did not scream out when you saw me, as the other boys who have been here did, for if you had done so my husband would have awakened and have eaten you, as he did them, for breakfast. Come here, child; go into my wardrobe: he never ventures to open THAT; you will be safe there.’

And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall, and shut him into it. But the keyhole was so large that it let in plenty of air, and he could see everything that took place through it. By-and-by he heard a heavy tramp on the stairs, like the lumbering along of a great cannon, and then a voice like thunder cried out;

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum, I smell the breath of an Englishman. Let him be alive or let him be dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’

`Wife,’ cried the Giant, `there is a man in the castle. Let me have him for breakfast.’

`You are grown old and stupid,’ cried the lady in her loud tones. `It is only a nice fresh steak off an elephant, that I have cooked for you, which you smell. There, sit down and make a good breakfast.’

And she placed a huge dish before him of savoury steaming meat, which greatly pleased him, and made him forget his idea of an Englishman being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he went out for a walk; and then the Giantess opened the door, and made Jack come out to help her. He helped her all day. She fed him well, and when evening came put him back in the wardrobe.

The Giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the keyhole, and was amazed to see him pick a wolf’s bone, and put half a chicken at a time into his huge mouth.

When the supper was ended he told his wife to bring him his hen that laid the golden eggs.

`It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that rotten knight,’ he said; `indeed I think the eggs are heavier than ever.’

The Giantess went away, and soon returned with a little brown hen, which she placed on the table before her husband. `And now, my dear,’ she said, `I am going for a walk, if you don’t want me any longer.’

`Go,’ said the Giant; `I shall be glad to have a nap by-and-by.’
Then he took up the brown hen and said to her:
`Lay!’ And she instantly laid a golden egg.
`Lay!’ said the Giant again. And she laid another.
`Lay!’ he repeated the third time. And again a golden egg lay on the table.
Now Jack was sure this hen was that of which the fairy had spoken.

By-and-by the Giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder.

As sooon as Jack saw that the Giant was fast asleep, he pushed open the door of the wardrobe and crept out; very softly he stole across the room, and, picking up the hen, made haste to quit the apartment. He knew the way to the kitchen, the door of which he found was left ajar; he opened it, shut and locked it after him, and flew back to the Beanstalk, which he descended as fast as his feet would move.

When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for she had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the Giant had found him. But Jack put the brown hen down before her, and told her how he had been in the Giant’s castle, and all his adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would make them rich once more.

And that’s the end of the first part of Jack and the Bean Stalk. Do you want to know what happened next? If you were Jack, would you have climbed up the bean stalk a second time and gone to visit that wicked old giant again? You think you would? You’re not quite sure. Well you’ve go a little time to think about it, because I’m going to pause now. The next part of Jack and the Beanstalk will be on Storynory.com. Until then, from me, Natasha, Bye Bye.