Jack and the Beanstalk

Once upon a time there lived a boy named Jack. Jack lived with his widowed mother in a ramshackle house. Their only source of income was a cow that provided them with milk, cheese, and butter which they sold to the townspeople. One day the cow just stopped producing milk and they were forced to sell it.

Jack's mother told him to go to town and to take the cow with him for they were going to sell it to buy a new one. Jack started into town but before he could make it he was stopped by an old man by the side of the road. The man was starving and asked Jack if he could interest him in an adventure in exchange for the cow.

Jack had always lived in the old ramshackle house. Those four walls were all he had known. He would give anything to have an adventure even if it was just a small one. So he made the deal and the man handed him a small drawstring pouch and went on his way with the cow. Once the man was far down the road he opened the pouch and poured out a handful of beans. His heart sank with the though that he had been cheated by the old man.

When he returned home his mother asked him for the money from the cow and he handed over the beans that he had received from the stranger. Needless to say his mother was furious she scolded Jack. She took the beans from his hand and tossed them out the window and sent Jack to his room without supper. Laying in bed Jack could hear his mother sobbing from the other room and he was overcome with guilt.

The next morning he worked up the nerve to leave his room and apologize to his mother but she was nowhere to be found. He exited the house and found her staring off into the sky. He approached her and asked her if everything was okay and all she could manage was to point. He turned his gaze to her pointed finger. A large green stalk emitted from the ground and spewed forth into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

Jack knew that this was the adventure the old man spoke of so he rushed to his room and grabbed his rucksack and without and with much protesting from his mother he began to climb the beanstalk. It was nearly nightfall when he made it to the top of the vine. To his surprise at the top there was not more clouds but an island in the sky. The island was lush and green, untouched by human hands.

It was not long before Jack found a path on the island and he began to follow it into the forest. He walked a ways before he came upon an immense cabin. The scale of the door itself was easily as big as a drawbridge and it was made out of complete trees. Jack began to wonder what could have made this house when he heard a voice coming from inside.

"99...100...101...102..." The voice was booming and low. Jack made his way closer to the door and he slipped into the house beneath the threshold. To his amazement he saw a man that easily that was larger than ten men stacked end to end. The giant was sitting on a stool and hunched over a table. In his fingers he held many shiny pieces of gold. They fell to the table one by one as he continued to count.  "103...104...105...106..."

The giant sighed and let the rest of the gold in his hand clatter to the table. He got up from his stool and reached high on a shelf and retrieved another shiny piece of gold. There was something different about this gold though it radiated a beautiful light. Jack could hear the beautiful dulcet tones of a harp spring forth. It was coming from the golden harp in the giant's hand. The sweet tones filled the air and in a matter of minutes the giant had drifted off into a slumber. A thunderous snore filled the room.

Jack took this opportunity to scale the table and in front of him were mountains and mountains of gold. He could hardly believe his eyes. He opened his rucksack and began filling it with the riches. In the midst of his frenzy he heard a voice.

"Please save me." The voice was singsong and ethereal. Jack looked around the room but did not see another soul in the house so he began on the gold again. "Please save me." The voice said again. At the far end of the table where the giant now slept the harp was propped up playing away. The image of a beautiful lady was carved into the sound box. Her eyes blinked as she pleaded again. "Please save me young  man. I have been the giant's prisoner for as long as I can remember. Please take me with you for anywhere would be a better home than here."

Jack thought on this for a while and agreed to take her along with him. He secured her onto his back but to do so he had to bind her strings to his back. With the lack of music the giant began to stir and soon he sat bolt up and sniffed the air saying.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum
I smell the blood of an Englishman
Be he alive or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

The giant laid eyes on Jack and his prized treasure and took a swipe at them. Jack however was too nimble for the giant, he ducked and slid down the table leg and out underneath the threshold. The giant slammed through the door and began to chase the pair of them through the forest. Jack made it back to the beanstalk and began to climb down as fast as he could.

The giant was hot on their trail as Jack and the magic harp descended through the clouds and back to earth. Jack finally made it back to solid ground as the giant was just breaking through the clouds. He ran to the house and picked up an axe and began chopping at the stalk. The stalk swayed with the weight of  the giant and with it's newly weakened base. There was a loud crack and the base of the beanstalk gave way. The ground rumbled as the stalk fell to the ground giant and all.

Jack greeted his mother with a large hug and introduced her to his new friend. With the riches that Jack had taken from the giant his mother, the harp, and himself lived happily ever after.