Once upon a time there was a poor widow who had a son named Jack and a cow named Milky-White. They were so poor all they had to live on was the milk from the cow. But one day Milky-White gave them no more milk and they didn’t know what to do.

“We have no money and no food,” said Jack’s mother. “You will have to take Milky-White to market and sell her.” So off Jack went to the market to sell their only cow.

He hadn’t gone far when he met a funny-looking old man. “Good morning, Jack,” said the man. “Good morning to you,” replied Jack as he wondered how the old man knew his name.

“Where are you off to?” he asked. “I’m going to the market to sell our cow”. The old man smiled and said, “Then I might be able to help you.”

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a number of strange-looking beans. “What are they?” asked Jack. “These are magic beans and I will swap them for your cow.”

“Magic beans! Said Jack. “What would I do with magic beans?” “Ah! You don’t know what these beans are!” said the man. “If you plant them in your garden, by morning they will grow right up to the sky.” Jack looked at the magic beans again and thought about what to do. After a minute he had made up his mind. “Alright, I will sell you my cow,” said Jack and he took the beans and gave to cow to the old man.

Happy with the deal he had just done, Jack returned home to find his mother waiting for him. “You sold the cow I see. How much did you get for her?” “I got something better than money!” said Jack. “What is better than money?” his mother replied. Jack held out his hand and showed her the beans. “Look mother, these are magic beans. You plant them in your garden and……”

“What!” screamed Jack’s mother, “You swapped our only cow for a few beans! How could you do such a thing?” Full of anger she grabbed the beans from Jack’s hand and threw them into the garden before sending the poor boy off to bed without any supper.

The next morning Jack woke up to find that his room was very dark. “How strange” he thought as he jumped out of bed to investigate. Looking out of the window he could see that the beans his mother had thrown into the garden had grown into a giant beanstalk. It went up and up and up until it reached the clouds in the sky. Amazed, Jack opened his window, jumped onto the beanstalk and began to climb.

He climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, until at last he reached the top, which was very high in the sky. When he put his head through the clouds he saw a long, wide road with a great big house at the end of it. He walked along the road until finally he reached the house.

Tired and hungry after his journey he knocked on the door and after a short wait a very tall woman opened the door.  “Good morning” said Jack. “Could you be so kind as to give me some breakfast?” “Its breakfast you want, is it?” said the very tall woman. “It’s breakfast you’ll be if you don’t move off from here. My husband is an ogre and there’s nothing he likes better than to eat little boys like you!”

“Oh! Please give me something to eat, I’ve had nothing since yesterday morning and I am very hungry” said Jack. The ogre’s wife had a kind heart and took pity on him. She led Jack into the kitchen and gave him some bread and cheese and a big jug of milk. But he hadn’t finished eating when suddenly they heard THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The whole house began to tremble with the noise of someone coming. “Goodness gracious me, it’s my husband!” said the ogre’s wife. “What on earth shall I do?” “Quickly, get in here.” and with speed she bundled him into the oven and shut the door just as the ogre came in.

Jack quietly crept out of the oven and as he was passing the ogre he took one of the bags of gold under his arm. Quickly he ran away until he came to the beanstalk. Dropping the bag of gold, it fell into his mother’s garden, and then he climbed down the beanstalk until at last he was home.

That night he told his mother what had happened and showed her the gold. “Well, mother, wasn’t I right about the beans? Said Jack, “they really are magical!”

His mother was very pleased and they used the bag of gold to buy food for some time, but finally they came to the end of it and Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more at the top of the beanstalk.

One fine morning he woke up early, got onto the beanstalk and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed until at last he came to the road again. When he reached the house sure enough, there was the very tall woman standing on the doorstep.

“Good morning” said Jack, as bold as brass, “could you be so good as to give me something to eat?” “Aren’t you the young man who came here once before?” said the woman. “Do you know, that very day my husband lost one of his bags of gold.”

“That’s strange” said Jack, “I dare say I could tell you something about that, but I’m so hungry I can’t speak until I’ve had something to eat.”

The very tall woman was so curious that she took him in and gave him something to eat. But he had scarcely begun munching when suddenly they heard the ogres footsteps, THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Quickly his wife hid Jack away in the oven again.

Everything happened as it did before. In came the ogre with his nose sniffing the air as he said in his deep booming voice, “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman”. “Rubbish” said his wife as he sat down to eat his breakfast.

Once he had finished eating the ogre said to his wife, “Bring me the hen that lays the golden eggs.” So she brought him the hen and the ogre said, “Lay,” and it laid an egg made of gold. He said the magic word again and the hen laid another golden egg, and another and another until after a while the ogre became tired and fell asleep. He started to snore until the whole house shook again.

Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoes, grabbed the golden hen and was off again before you could say “Jack Robinson.” But the hen gave a cackle which woke the ogre, and just as Jack was running out of the house he heard the Ogre calling, “Wife, wife, what have you done with my golden hen?”

But Jack was away. He rushed off towards the beanstalk and climbed down with the hen under his arm as quickly as he could. And when he got home he showed his mother the wonderful hen and said to it “Lay” and it laid a golden egg each and every time he said the magic word.

But Jack was not content and it was not long before he decided to try his luck again up in the magical world at the top of the beanstalk. So one fine morning he woke up early, got onto the beanstalk and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed until finally he reached the top.

But this time he knew better than to go straight to the ogre’s house. So when he got near, he waited behind a bush until he saw the ogre’s wife coming out with a bucket to get some water. When she was outside he quietly crept inside the house and got into a big cauldron to hide.

He hadn’t been there long when he heard THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! and in came the ogre and his wife. “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman,” cried the ogre. “I smell him, wife, I smell him.”

“Do you, my dear?” said the ogre’s wife. “Then, if it’s that little rogue that stole your gold and the hen that lays golden eggs he’s sure to have got into the oven.” And so they both rushed over to the oven to have a look.

But luckily Jack wasn’t there as the ogre’ s wife said, “There you are again with your fee-fi-fo-fum!” The ogre looked all around the kitchen but could not find Jack anywhere. Thankfully he did not look in the cauldron. So the ogre sat down for his breakfast and ate it all up.

After he had finished eating the ogre called out, “Wife, wife, bring me my golden harp.” So his wife brought out the golden harp and put it on the table before him. Then he said, “Sing!” and the golden harp began to sing the most beautiful song. And it went on singing until the ogre finally fell asleep and started to snore like thunder.

Just then Jack lifted up the lid of the cauldron very quietly and crept out like a mouse until he reached the table. Up he crawled, grabbed hold of the golden harp and dashed with it towards the door. But as he ran the harp called out quite loudly, “Master! Master!” and the ogre woke up just in time to see Jack running off with his harp.

Jack ran as fast as he could as the ogre came rushing after him but the giant was very quick. When he got to the beanstalk the ogre was not more than twenty yards away when suddenly Jack disappeared. When he reached the end of the road he looked down and saw Jack underneath him climbing for his dear life.

Once again the harp cried out, “Master! Master!” and the ogre swung himself down onto the beanstalk, which shook with his weight. Down climbed Jack and after him followed the ogre.

Jack was nearly home when he called out, “Mother! Mother! Bring me an axe.” His mother came rushing out of the house with an axe in her hand, but when she reached the beanstalk she stood still with fright, for there she saw the ogre with his legs poking through the clouds.

But Jack quickly jumped down, grabbed the axe from his mother and began to chop away at the beanstalk. He chopped and he chopped and he chopped until the beanstalk was cut in two. The ogre roared as he fell to the ground and broke his crown and the beanstalk came toppling after.

Jack showed his mother the golden harp. With that and the hen that laid golden eggs, Jack and his mother became very rich and they lived happy ever after.

The end