the giant did not awake, Jack seized the bags, and, throwing them over
his shoulders, ran out of the kitchen. He reached the door in safety,
and found it quite daylight.
Jack was overjoyed when he found himself near the bean-stalk; although
much incommoded with the weight of the money bags, he soon reached the
bottom, and immediately ran to seek his mother. He was greatly shocked
on finding her apparently dying, and could scarcely bear his own
reflections, knowing himself to be the cause. On being informed of
Jack's safe return, his mother gradually recovered. Jack presented her
his two valuable bags, and they lived as happily and comfortably as
ever.
For three years, notwithstanding the comforts Jack enjoyed, his mind
dwelt continually upon the bean-stalk; for the fairy's menaces were ever
present to his mind, and prevented him from being happy. It was in vain
he endeavoured to amuse himself; he became thoughtful, and would rise at
the dawn of day and view the bean-stalk for hours together.
His inclination at length growing too powerful for him, he began to make
secret preparations for his journey, and, on the longest day, arose as
soon as it was light, ascended the bean-stalk, and reached the top. He
arrived at the giant's mansion in the evening, and found his wife
standing, as usual, at the door. Jack had disguised himself so
completely that she did not appear to have the least recollection of
him; however, when he pleaded hunger and poverty in order to gain
admittance, he found it very difficult indeed to persuade her. At last
he prevailed, and was concealed in the oven.
When the giant returned, he said, as upon the former occasions, "I smell
fresh meat!" But Jack felt quite composed, as he had said so before, and
had been soon satisfied; however, the giant started up suddenly, and,
notwithstanding all his wife could say, he searched all around the room.
Jack was ready to die with fear, wishing himself at home; the giant
approached the oven and put his hand into it; Jack thought his death was
certain.
The giant at last gave up the search and ate a hearty supper. When he
had finished, he commanded his wife to fetch down his harp. Jack peeped
as he had done before, and saw the most beautiful harp that could be
imagined; it was placed by the giant on the table, who said, "Play!" and
it instantly played of its own accord without being touched. The music
was very fine; Jack was delighted, and felt more anxious to get the harp
into his possession than either of the former treasures.
The music soon lulled the giant into a sound sleep. This, therefore, was
the time to carry off the harp. As the giant appeared to be in a more
profound sleep than usual, Jack soon determined, got out of the oven,
and seized the harp. The harp had also been stolen by the giant from the
fairy.
The giant suddenly awoke and tried to pursue him; but he had drank so
much that he could hardly stand. Jack ran as fast as he could; in a
little time the giant recovered sufficiently to walk slowly, or rather
to reel after him. Had he been sober, he must have overtaken Jack
instantly; but, as he then was, Jack contrived to be first at the top of
the bean-stalk. The giant called after him in a voice like thunder, and
sometimes was very near him.
The moment Jack got down the bean-stalk, he ran for a hatchet. Just at
that instant the giant was beginning to descend, but Jack with his
hatchet cut the bean-stalk close off at the root, which made the giant
fall headlong into the garden, and the fall killed him.
At this instant the fairy appeared; she charged Jack to be dutiful to
his mother, and to follow his father's good example, which was the only
way to be happy. She then disappeared, after recovering her hen and her
harp, which Jack gave to her most thankfully, having acquired great
riches and revenged the tragical death of his father.
THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
A great many years ago, there lived in the county of Norfolk a gentleman
and his lady. The gentleman was brave, generous, and honourable; and the
lady gentle, beautiful, and virtuous; they were beloved by all who knew
them, and were blessed with two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was
only about three years old, and the girl not quite two, when the
gentleman was seized with a dangerous malady, and the lady, in attending
her beloved husband, caught the contagion. Notwithstanding every medical
assistance, their disorder daily increased; and, as they expected to be
soon snatched away from their little babes, they sent for the
gentleman's brother, and gave the darlings into his care.
"Ah! brother," said the dying man, "you see I have but a short time to
live; yet neither death nor pain can pierce my heart with half so much
anguish as what I feel at the thought of what these dear babes will do
without a parent's care. Brother, they will have none but you to be kind
to them, to see them clothed and fed, and to teach them to be good."
"Dear, dear brother," said the dying lady, "you must be father, mother,
and uncle too, to these dear innocent lambs. First, let William be
taught to read; and then he should be told how good his father was. And
little Jane--Oh! brother, it wrings my heart to talk of her; think of
the gentle usage she will need, and take her fondly on your knee,
brother, and she and William too will pay your care with love."
"How it does grieve my heart to see you, my dear relatives, in this
mournful condition," replied the uncle. "But be comforted, there may
yet be hopes of your well-doing; but should we have the misfortune to
lose you, I will do all you can desire for your darling children. In me
they shall find father, mother, and uncle; but, dear brother, you have
said nothing of your wealth."
"H-e-r-e, h-e-r-e, brother," replied he, "is my will, in which I have
provided for my dear babes."
The gentleman and his lady then kissed their children, and a short time
after they both died.
The uncle, after shedding a few tears, opened the will, in which he
found that to William was bequeathed three hundred pounds a year when he
became of age, and to little Jane five hundred pounds in gold on her
marriage day. But if the children should chance to die before coming of
age, then all their wealth was to be enjoyed by their uncle. The will of
the unfortunate gentleman next desired that he and his beloved wife
should be buried side by side in the same grave.
The two little innocents were now taken to the house of their uncle,
who, for some time, recollecting what their parents said so sorrowfully
upon their death-bed, behaved to them with great kindness. But when he
had kept them about a twelvemonth, he by degrees forgot to think both
how their parents looked when they gave their children to his care, and
the promises he made to be their father, mother, and uncle, all in one.
After a little more time had passed, the uncle could not help thinking
that he wished the little boy and girl would die, for he should then
have all their wealth for himself; and when he had begun to think this,
he went on till he could not think scarcely of anything else; and at
last, says he to himself, "It will not be very difficult for me to kill
them, as nobody knows anything of the matter, and then their gold is
mine."
When the barbarous uncle had once brought his mind to kill the helpless
little creatures, he was not long in finding a way to execute his cruel
purpose. He hired two sturdy ruffians, who had already killed many
travellers in a dark, thick wood, at some distance, and then robbed them
of their money. These two wicked creatures agreed, for a large reward,
to do the blackest deed that ever yet was heard of; and the uncle began
to prepare everything accordingly.
He told an artful story to his wife, of what good it would be to put the
children forward in their learning; how he had a relation in London who
would take the greatest care of them. He then said to the innocent
children, "Should you not like, my pretty ones, to see the famous town
of London, where you, William, can buy a fine wooden horse to ride upon
all day long, and a whip to make him gallop, and a fine sword to wear by
your side? And you, Jane, shall have pretty dolls and pretty
pincushions, and a nice gilded coach shall be got to take you there."
"Oh yes, I will go, uncle," said William.
"Oh yes, I will go, uncle," said Jane.
And the uncle, with a heart of stone, soon got them ready for their
journey.
The unsuspecting little creatures were a few days after put into a fine
coach, and with them the two inhuman butchers, who were soon to end
their joyful prattle, and turn their smiles to tears. One of them served
as coachman, and the other sat between little William and little Jane.
When they had reached the entrance to the dark, thick wood, the two
ruffians took them out of the coach, telling them they might now walk a
little way and gather flowers; and, while the children were skipping
about like lambs, the ruffians turned their backs on them, and began to
consult about what they had to do.
"In good truth," says the one who had been sitting all the way between
the children, "now I have seen their cherub faces, and heard their
pretty speech, I have no heart to do the bloody deed; let us fling away
the ugly knife, and send the children back to their uncle."
"That I will not," says the other; "what boots their pretty speech to
us? And who will pay us for being so chicken-hearted?"
At last the ruffians fell into so great a passion about butchering the
innocent little creatures, that he who wished to spare their lives
suddenly opened the great knife he had brought to kill them, and stabbed
the other to the heart, so that he fell down dead.
The one who had killed him was now greatly at a loss what to do with the
children, for he wanted to get away as fast as he could, for fear of
being found in the wood. He was not, however, long in determining that
he must leave them in the wood, to the chance of some traveller passing
by. "Look ye, my pretty ones," said he, "you must each take hold and
come along with me." The poor children each took a hand and went on, the
tears bursting from their eyes, and their little limbs trembling with
fear.
Thus did he lead them about two miles further on in the wood, and told
them to wait there till he came back with some cakes.
William took his sister Jane by the hand, and they wandered fearfully up
and down the wood. "Will the strange man come with some cakes, Billy?"
says Jane.
"Presently, dear Jane," says William.
And soon again, "I wish I had some cakes, Billy," said she.
And it would have melted a heart of stone to see how sorrowfully they
looked.
After waiting very long, they tried to satisfy their hunger with
blackberries, but they soon devoured all that were within their reach;
and night coming on, William, who had tried all he could to comfort his
little sister, now wanted comfort himself; so when Jane said once more,
"How hungry I am, Billy, I b-e-l-i-e-v-e I cannot help crying," William
burst out crying too; and down they lay upon the cold earth, and putting
their arms round each other's neck, there they starved, and there they
died.
Thus were these pretty little innocents murdered; and as no one knew of
their death, so no one sought to give them burial.
The wicked uncle, supposing they had been killed as he desired, told all
who asked after them an artful tale of their having died in London of
the smallpox, and accordingly took possession openly of their fortune.
But all this did him very little service, for soon after his wife died;
and being very unhappy, and always thinking too that he saw the bleeding
innocents before his eyes, he neglected all his business; so that,
instead of growing richer, he every day grew poorer. His two sons, also,
who had embarked for a foreign land, were both drowned at sea, and he
became completely miserable.
When things had gone on in this manner for years, the ruffian who took
pity on the children committed another robbery in the wood, and, being
pursued by some men, he was laid hold of and brought to prison, and soon
after was tried at the assizes, and found guilty--so that he was
condemned to be hanged for the crime.
As soon as he found what his unhappy end must be, he sent for the keeper
of the prison, and confessed to him all the crimes he had been guilty of
in his whole life, and thus declared the story of the pretty innocents,
telling him at the same time in what part of the wood he had left them
to starve.
The news of the discovery he had made soon reached the uncle's ears,
who, being already broken-hearted by misfortunes that had befallen him,
and unable to bear the load of public shame that could not but await
him, lay down upon his bed and died that very day.
No sooner were the tidings of the fate of the two children made public
than proper persons were sent to search the wood; when, after many
fruitless endeavours, the pretty babes were at length found outstretched
in each other's arms, with William's arm round the neck of Jane, his
face turned close to her's, and his frock pulled over her body. They
were covered all over with leaves, which in all that time never
withered; and on a bush near this cold grave a Robin-Redbreast watched
and chirped--so that many gentle hearts still think that pretty bird did
bring the leaves which made their grave.
JACK THE GIANT KILLER.
In the reign of King Arthur, near the Land's End of England, in the
County of Cornwall, there lived a wealthy farmer, who had one only son,
commonly known by the name of Jack. He was brisk, and of a lively ready
wit; so that whatever he could not perform by strength, he completed by
wit and policy. Never was any person heard of that could worst him; nay,
the learned he baffled by his cunning and ready inventions.
For instance, when he was no more than seven years of age, his father
sent him into the field to look after his oxen; a country vicar, by
chance one day coming across the field, called Jack, and asked him
several questions--in particular, How many commandments were there? Jack
told him there were nine.
The Parson replied, "There are ten."
"Nay," quoth Jack, "Master Parson, you are out of that; it is true there
were ten, but you broke one of them with your own maid Margery."
The Parson replied, "Thou art an arch wag, Jack."
"Well, Master Parson," quoth Jack, "you have asked me one question, and
I have answered it; let me ask you another. Who made these oxen?"
The Parson replied, "God."
"You are out again," quoth Jack, "for God made them bulls, but my father
and his man Hobson made oxen of them."
The Parson, finding himself fooled, trudged away, leaving Jack in a fit
of laughter.
In those days the mount of Cornwall was kept by a huge and monstrous
Giant, of twenty-seven feet high, and three yards in compass, of a grim
countenance, to the terror of all the neighbouring towns. His habitation
was a cave in the midst of the mount; neither would he suffer any living
creature near him; his feeding was upon other men's cattle; for
whensoever he had occasion for food, he would wade over to the
mainland, where he would furnish himself with whatever he could find.
For the people at his approach would forsake their habitations; then he
would take their cows and oxen, of which he would make nothing to carry
over his back half-a-dozen at a time; and as for sheep and hogs, he
would tie them round his waist. This he had for many years practised in
Cornwall.
But one day Jack, coming to the Town Hall, when the Magistrates were
sitting in consternation about the Giant, he asked what reward they
would give to any person that would destroy him?
They answered, "He shall have all the Giant's treasure in recompense."
Quoth Jack, "Then I myself will undertake the work."
Jack furnished himself with a horn, a shovel, and a pick-axe, and over
to the mount he goes in the beginning of a dark winter evening, where he
fell to work, and before morning had digged a pit twenty-two feet deep
and as broad, and covered the same over with long sticks and straw; then
strewed a little mould upon it, so that it appeared like the plain
ground.
This done, Jack places himself on the contrary side of the pit, just
about the dawning of the day, when, putting his horn to his mouth, he
then blew, _Tan Twivie, tan twivie_. Which unexpected noise roused the
Giant, who came roaring towards Jack, crying out--"You incorrigible
villain, are you come hither to break my rest; you shall dearly pay for
it; satisfaction I will have, and it shall be this: I will take you
wholly and broil you for my breakfast."
Which words were no sooner out of his mouth but he tumbled headlong into
the deep pit, which heavy fall made the very foundation of the mount to
shake. "Oh, Giant! where are you now? Faith, you are got into Lobb's
Pond, where I shall plague you for your threatening words. What do you
think now of broiling me for your breakfast? Will no other diet serve
you but poor Jack?"
Thus having tantalized the Giant for a while, he gave him a most weighty
knock on the crown of his head with his pick-axe, so that he immediately
tumbled down, gave a most dreadful groan, and died. This done, Jack
threw the earth in upon him, and so buried him; then going and searching
the cave, he found a great quantity of treasure.
Now, when the Magistrates who employed him heard the work was over, they
sent for him, declaring that he should be called Jack the Giant Killer.
And in honour thereof, they presented him with a sword, together with a
fine rich embroidered belt, on which these words were wrought in letters
of gold--
"Here's the right valiant Cornish man,
Who slew the Giant Cormillan."
The news of Jack's victory was soon spread; when another huge Giant
named Blunderboar, hearing of it, vowed to be revenged on Jack, if ever
it was his fortune to light upon him. This Giant kept an enchanted
castle, situated in the midst of a lonesome wood. Now Jack, about four
months after, walking near the borders of the said wood on his journey
towards Wales, grew weary, and therefore sat himself down by the side of
a pleasant fountain, where a deep sleep suddenly seized on him, at which
time the Giant, coming for water, found him; and, by the line on his
belt, knew him to be Jack that killed his brother, and, without any
words, threw him upon his shoulder to carry him to his enchanted castle.
Now, as they passed through a thicket, the ruffling of the boughs awaked
poor Jack, who, finding himself in the clutches of the Giant, was
strangely surprised; for, at the entering within the first walls of the
castle, he beheld the ground all covered with bones and skulls of dead
men, the Giant telling Jack that his bones would enlarge the number that
he saw. This said, he brought him into a large parlour, where he beheld
the bloody quarters of some who were lately slain, and in the next room
were many hearts and livers, which the Giant, in order to terrify Jack,
told him--"That men's hearts and livers were the choicest of his diet,
for he commonly ate them with pepper and vinegar, and he did not
question but his heart would make him a dainty bit." This said, he locks
up poor Jack in an upper room, while he went to fetch another Giant
living in the same wood, that he might partake in the destruction of
poor Jack.
Now, while he was gone, dreadful shrieks and cries affrighted poor Jack,
especially a voice which continually cried--
"Do what you can to get away,
Or you'll become the Giant's prey;
He's gone to fetch his brother, who
Will kill and likewise torture you."
This dreadful noise so amazed poor Jack, he was ready to run distracted;
seeing from the window afar off the two Giants coming, "Now," quoth Jack
to himself, "my death or deliverance is at hand."
There were strong cords in the room by him, of which he takes two, at
the end of which he makes a noose, and, while the Giant was unlocking
the gate, he threw the ropes over each of the heads, and drawing the
other end across the beam, he pulled with all his strength until he had
throttled them; and then fastening the rope to the beam, turning towards
the window he beheld the two Giants to be black in their faces. Sliding
down by the rope, he came close to their heads, where the helpless
Giants could not defend themselves; and, drawing out his sword, slew
them both, and delivered himself from their intended cruelty; then
taking out a bunch of keys, he unlocked the rooms, where he found three
fair ladies tied by the hair of their heads, almost starved to death,
who told Jack that their husbands were slain by the Giant, and that they
were kept many days without food, in order to force them to feed upon
the flesh of their husbands.
"Sweet ladies," quoth Jack, "I have destroyed this monster and his
brutish brother, by which I have obtained your liberties." This said, he
presented them with the keys of the castle, and so proceeded on his
journey to Wales.
Jack, having but very little money, thought it prudent to make the best
of his way by travelling as fast as he could; but, losing his road, was
benighted, and could not get a place of entertainment until he came to a
valley placed between two hills, where stood a large house in a lonesome
place. He took courage to knock at the gate, and to his great surprise
there came forth a monstrous Giant, having two heads; yet he did not
seem so fiery as the others had been, for he was a Welsh Giant, and what
he did was by secret malice; for, Jack telling his condition, he bid him
welcome, showing him a room with a bed in it, whereon he might take his
night's repose; therefore, Jack undressed himself, and, as the Giant was
walking to another apartment, Jack heard him muttering forth these
words to himself--
"Though here you lodge with me this night,
You shall not see the morning light;
My club shall dash your brains out quite."
"Sayest thou so," quoth Jack; "this is like your Welsh tricks, yet I
hope to be cunning enough for you." Then, getting out of bed, he put a
billet in his stead, and hid himself in a corner of the room; and, in
the dead time of the night, the Welsh Giant came with his great knotty
club, and struck several blows upon the bed where Jack had laid the
billet, and then returned to his own chamber, supposing he had broken
all the bones in his body.
In the morning, Jack gave him hearty thanks for his lodging.
The Giant said to him, "How have you rested? Did you not feel something
in the night?"
"Nothing," quoth Jack, "but a rat which gave me three or four slaps with
her tail."
Soon after the Giant arose and went to breakfast with a bowl of hasty
pudding, containing nearly four gallons, giving Jack the like quantity,
who, being loath to let the Giant know he could not eat with him, got a
large leathern bag, putting it very artfully under his loose coat, into
which he secretly conveyed his pudding, telling the Giant he could show
him a trick; then, taking a large knife, he ripped open the bag, which
the Giant supposed to be his belly, when out came the hasty pudding, at
which the Welsh Giant cried, "Cotplut, hur can do dat trick hurself."
Then, taking his sharp knife, he ripped up his own belly from the bottom
to the top, and out dropped his tripes and trolly bags, so that he fell
down for dead. Thus Jack outwitted the Giant, and proceeded on his
journey.
About this time King Arthur's son only desired of his father to furnish
him with a certain sum of money, that he might go and seek his fortune
in Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, whom he heard was possessed with
seven evil spirits; but the King, his father, advised him utterly
against it, yet he would not be persuaded of it; so he granted what he
requested, which was one horse loaded with money, and another for
himself to ride on. Thus he went forth without any attendants.
Now, after several days' travel, he came to a market town in Wales,
where he beheld a large concourse of people gathered together; the
King's son demanded the reason of it, and was told that they had
arrested a corpse for many large sums of money which the deceased owed
when he died. The King's son replied, "It is a pity that creditors
should be so cruel; go bury the dead, and let his creditors come to my
lodging, and their debts shall be discharged." Accordingly, they came in
great numbers, so that he left himself moneyless.