Jimmieboy was turning over the pages of his fairy book the other night,
trying to refresh his memory concerning the marvelous doings of the
fairy-land people by looking at the pictures. His papa was too tired to
read to him, and as no one else in the house was willing to undertake
the task, the boy was doing his best to entertain himself, and as it
happened he got more out of his own efforts than he ever derived from
the efforts of others. He had dallied long over the weird experiences of
Cinderella, and had just turned over the pages which lead up to the
story of Jack the Giant Killer, when something in the picture of the
Giant's castle seemed to move.
Looking a little more closely at the picture in a startled sort of way,
Jimmieboy saw that the moving thing was the knob of the castle door, and
in a jiffy the door itself opened, and a huge homely creature whom
Jimmieboy recognized at once as an ogre stuck his head out. For a moment
the little fellow felt disposed to cry for help. Surely if the Giant
could open the door in the picture there was no reason why he should not
step out of the book entirely and make a speedy meal of Jimmieboy, who,
realizing that he was entirely unarmed, was inclined to run and hide
behind his papa's back. His fast oozing courage was quickly restored,
however, by the Giant himself, who winked at him in a genial sort of
fashion as much as to say: "Nonsense, boy, I wouldn't eat you, if I
could." The wink he followed up at once with a smile, and then he said:
"That you, Jimmieboy?"
"Yes, sir," said Jimmieboy, very civilly indeed. "I'm me. Are you you?"
The Giant laughed.
"Yes," he replied, "and so, of course, we are ourselves. Are you very
busy?"
"Not very," said Jimmieboy. "Why?"
"I want a little advice from you," the Giant answered. "I think it's
about time the tables were turned on that miserable little ruffian
Jack. The idea of a big thing like me being killed every day of his
life by a mosquito like Jack is very tiresome, and I want to know if you
don't think it would be fair if I should kill him just once for the sake
of variety. It won't hurt him. He'll come to life again right away just
as we Giants do----"
"Don't you stay dead when Jack kills you?" asked Jimmieboy.
"You know the answer to that as well as I do," said the Giant. "You've
had this story read to you every day now for three years, haven't you?"
"About that," said Jimmieboy.
"Well, if we staid dead how do you suppose we'd be on hand to be killed
again the next time you had the story read to you?"
"I never thought of that," said Jimmieboy.
"Never thought of it?" echoed the ogre. "Why, what kind of thoughts do
you think, anyhow? It's the only thought for a thinker to think I think,
don't you think so?"
"Say that again, will you?" said Jimmieboy.
"Couldn't possibly," said the ogre. "In fact, I've forgotten it. But
what do you think of my scheme? Don't you think it would be wise if I
killed Jack just once?"
"Perhaps it would," said the boy. "That is if it wouldn't hurt him."
"Hurt him? Didn't I tell you it wouldn't hurt him?" said the Giant. "I
wouldn't hurt that boy for all the world. If I did I'd lose my position.
Why, all I am I owe to him. The fairy people let me live in this
magnificent castle for nothing. They let me rob them of all their
property, and all I have to do in return for this is to be killed by
Jack whenever any little boy or girl in your world desires to be amused
by a tragedy of that sort. So you see I haven't any hard feelings
against him, even if I did call him a miserable little ruffian."
"Well, I don't exactly like to have Jack killed," said Jimmieboy. "I've
always rather liked him. What do you suppose he would say to it?"
"That's just the point. I wouldn't kill him unless he was willing. That
would be a violation of my agreement with him, and when he came to he
might sue me for what the lawyers call a breach of contract," said the
ogre. "Now, it seemed to me that if you were to go to Jack and tell him
that you were getting a little tired of having this story end the way it
does all the time, and that you thought it only fair to me that I
should have a chance to celebrate a victory, say once a week--every
Saturday night for instance--he'd be willing to do it."
"Where can I find him?" asked Jimmieboy. "I just as lief ask him."
"He's in the picture, two pages farther along, sharpening his sword,"
said the ogre.
"Very well, I'll go see him at once," said Jimmieboy. Then he said
good-by to the Giant, and turned over the pages until he came to the
pictures showing how Jack sharpened his sword on the soles of the shoes
of another giant, whom he had bound and strapped to the floor.
At first Jimmieboy did not know how to address him. He had often spoken
to the figures in the pictures, but they had never replied to anything
he had said. However, he made a beginning.
"Ahem!" he said.
The effect was pleasing, for as he said this Jack stopped sharpening his
blade and turned to see who had spoken.
"Ah, Jimmieboy!" said the small warrior. "Howdy do. Haven't seen much of
you this week. You've been paying more attention to Hop o' My Thumb than
to me lately."
"Well, I love you just the same," said Jimmieboy. "I've just seen the
Giant that lives up in the castle with the dragon on the front stoop."
"He's a good fellow," said Jack. "I'm very fond of him. He never gives
me any trouble, and dies just as easy as if he were falling off a log,
and out of business hours we're great chums. He's had something on his
mind lately, though, that I don't understand. He says being killed every
day is getting monotonous."
"That's what he said to me," said Jimmieboy.
"Well, I hope he doesn't resign his position," said Jack, thoughtfully.
"I know it isn't in every way a pleasant one, but he might go farther
and fare worse. The way I kill him is painless, but if he got into that
Bean-stalk boy's hands he'd be all bruised up. You can't fall a mile
without getting hurt, you know, and I like the old fellow too well to
have him go over to that Bean-stalk cousin of mine."
"He likes you, too," said Jimmieboy, pleased to find that there was so
much good feeling between the two creatures. "But he thinks he ought to
get a chance to win once in a while. He said if he could arrange it with
you to have him kill you once a week--Saturday nights, for
instance--he'd be perfectly contented."
"That's reasonable enough," said Jack, nodding his head approvingly.
"Did he say how he would like to do it?"
"No, only that he'd kill you tenderly, so that you wouldn't suffer,"
said Jimmieboy.
"Oh, I know that!" said Jack, softly. "He's too tender-hearted to hurt
anybody. I'm very much inclined to agree to the proposition, but he must
let me choose the manner of the killing. He hasn't had much practice
killing people, and if he were to do it by hitting me on the head with a
stick of wood I'd be likely to wake up with a headache next day; neither
should I like to be smothered because while that doesn't bruise one or
break any bones its awfully stuffy, and if there's one thing I like it
is fresh air."
"Perhaps he might eat you," suggested Jimmieboy.
"He isn't big enough to do that comfortably," said Jack, shaking his
head. "He'd have to cut me up and chew me, because his throat isn't
large enough for him to swallow me at one gulp. But I'll tell you what
you can do. You go back to him, and tell him that I'll agree to his
proposition, if he'll have me cooked in a plum-pudding four hundred feet
in circumference. I'm very fond of plum-pudding, and while he is eating
it from the outside I could be eating it from the inside, and, of
course, I shouldn't be burned in the cooking, because in the middle of a
pudding of that size the heat never could reach me."
"But when he reached you," said Jimmieboy, "you'd have the same trouble
you said you'd have if he ate you up. He'd have to cut you to pieces and
chew you."
"Ah!" said Jack, "don't you see my point? By the time he reached me he
would have eaten so much plum-pudding that he wouldn't have room for me,
so I'd escape."
"But, then, you wouldn't be killed," said Jimmieboy.
"That wouldn't make any difference," said Jack. "We'd stop the story
before I escaped and everybody would think I'd been eaten up, and that's
all he wants. He just wants to seem to win once. He doesn't really care
about killing me dead. Don't you see."
"Yes, I think I do," said Jimmieboy, "and I'll go back and tell him what
you say."
"Thank you," said Jack. "And while you are there give him my love, and
tell him I'll be around to kill him as usual after tea."
All of which Jimmieboy did and the Giant readily agreeing to the
plum-pudding scheme, said good-night to his little visitor, and retired
into the castle, closing the door after him.
Then Jimmieboy went to bed in a great hurry, because he knew how sleep
made time seem shorter than it really was, and he was very anxious to
have Saturday night come around so that he could see how the new ending
to the story of Jack the Giant Killer worked.
As yet that Saturday night has not turned up, so that I really cannot
tell you whether or not the arrangement was a success.