Jack lived with his mother in a little house at the edge of the wood, and they were poor.
Their one possession was a cow called Milky-white.
Every morning the cow gave milk, and that was how they lived.
Then one morning she gave no milk. Nor the next.
“Go to market,” said his mother, “and sell the cow. Bring a fair price for her.”
Jack set off, and on the road an old man stopped him.
“Where are you taking that cow?” he asked.
“To market, to sell her.”
“Then save yourself the trouble,” said the old man. “I have something here worth more than any money.”
In his hand were a few beans, small and grey.
“These are magic beans,” he said. “Plant them, and by morning they will reach the sky. Give me the cow, and they are yours.”
Jack looked at the beans. They were handsome, and the old man’s voice was convincing.
He gave him the cow, and carried the beans home.
“Where is the cow?” asked his mother.
“I traded her,” said Jack. “These are magic beans.”
His mother said nothing for a moment. Then she took the beans out of his hand and threw them out of the window.
“Magic beans!” she said. “For a cow! Go to bed, and don’t come out until supper.”
Jack went to bed and fell asleep hungry.
In the morning, when he opened his eyes, the room was dark, because something outside the window had shut out the sun.
He went out and saw a huge beanstalk standing in front of the window, reaching up to the sky.
Its stalk was as thick as a tower, and its leaves were as big as umbrellas.
Jack climbed. He climbed all morning, and he climbed all afternoon.
At last, above the leaves, there was a road, and at the end of the road a great house.
A woman came out of the door.
“Help me,” said Jack. “I am hungry.”
The woman pulled him inside, gave him bread and milk, and said: “Be quick. My husband will be here any moment.”
She had hardly finished when the floor shook, and a voice filled the whole house:
“Fee, fi, fo, fum — I smell the blood of an Englishman!”
The woman hurried Jack into the oven.
The giant walked round the table, sniffed, and found nothing. He ate his supper and fell asleep.
Then Jack crept out and took the bag of gold that stood beside the table.
At home his mother wept when she saw it. They lived on that gold for a while.
Then Jack climbed up a second time, and brought back the hen that laid golden eggs.
A third time he brought back the golden harp, but the harp called out in a human voice:
“Master! Master! Here he is!”
The giant woke and threw himself after Jack.
Jack ran, and the giant came after him; on the way down the stalk there was no hurrying.
When he reached the ground, Jack took up the axe and began to cut at the stalk with all his strength.
The stalk cracked, and the giant fell.
Jack and his mother were never poor again.
And Jack never again traded anything with an old man on the road.
