So Jack called his mother, and they both gazed in silent wonder at the
Beanstalk, which was not only of great height, but was thick enough to
bear Jack’s weight.
‘I wonder where it ends,’ said Jack to his mother; ‘I think I will
climb up and see.’
His mother wished him not to venture up this strange ladder, but Jack
coaxed her to give her consent to the attempt, for he was certain there
must be something wonderful in the Beanstalk; so at last she yielded to
his wishes.
Jack instantly began to climb, and went up and up on the ladder-like
bean till everything he had left behind him—the cottage, the village,
and even the tall church tower—looked quite little, and still he could
not see the top of the Beanstalk.
Jack felt a little tired, and thought for a moment that he would go
back again; but he was a very persevering boy, and he knew that the way
to succeed in anything is not to give up. So after resting for a moment
he went on.
After climbing higher and higher, till he grew afraid to look down for
fear he should be giddy, Jack at last reached the top of the Beanstalk,
and found himself in a beautiful country, finely wooded, with beautiful
meadows covered with sheep. A crystal stream ran through the pastures;
not far from the place where he had got off the Beanstalk stood a fine,
strong castle.
Jack wondered very much that he had never heard of or seen this castle
before; but when he reflected on the subject, he saw that it was as
much separated from the village by the perpendicular rock on which it
stood as if it were in another land.
While Jack was standing looking at the castle, a very strange-looking
woman came out of the wood, and advanced towards him.
She wore a pointed cap of quilted red satin turned up with ermine, her
hair streamed loose over her shoulders, and she walked with a staff.
Jack took off his cap and made her a bow.
‘If you please, ma’am,’ said he, ‘is this your house?’
‘No,’ said the old lady. ‘Listen, and I will tell you the story of that
castle.
‘Once upon a time there was a noble knight, who lived in this castle,
which is on the borders of Fairyland. He had a fair and beloved wife
and several lovely children: and as his neighbours, the little people,
were very friendly towards him, they bestowed on him many excellent and
precious gifts.
‘Rumour whispered of these treasures; and a monstrous giant, who lived
at no great distance, and who was a very wicked being, resolved to
obtain possession of them.
‘So he bribed a false servant to let him inside the castle, when the
knight was in bed and asleep, and he killed him as he lay. Then he went
to the part of the castle which was the nursery, and also killed all
the poor little ones he found there.
‘Happily for her, the lady was not to be found. She had gone with her
infant son, who was only two or three months old, to visit her old
nurse, who lived in the valley; and she had been detained all night
there by a storm.
‘The next morning, as soon as it was light, one of the servants at the
castle, who had managed to escape, came to tell the poor lady of the
sad fate of her husband and her pretty babes. She could scarcely
believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the
fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many tears, besought her
to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to
preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.
‘The lady yielded to this reasoning, and consented to remain at her
nurse’s house as the best place of concealment; for the servant told
her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, he would kill both
her and her baby. Years rolled on. The old nurse died, leaving her
cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to her poor
lady, who dwelt in it, working as a peasant for her daily bread. Her
spinning-wheel and the milk of a cow, which she had purchased with the
little money she had with her, sufficed for the scanty subsistence of
herself and her little son. There was a nice little garden attached to
the cottage, in which they cultivated peas, beans, and cabbages, and
the lady was not ashamed to go out at harvest time, and glean in the
fields to supply her little son’s wants.
‘Jack, that poor lady is your mother. This castle was once your
father’s, and must again be yours.’
Jack uttered a cry of surprise.
‘My mother! oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor father! My dear
mother!’
‘Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But the task is
a very difficult one, and full of peril, Jack. Have you courage to
undertake it?’
‘I fear nothing when I am doing right,’ said Jack.
‘Then,’ said the lady in the red cap, ‘you are one of those who slay
giants. You must get into the castle, and if possible possess yourself
of a hen that lays golden eggs, and a harp that talks. Remember, all
the giant possesses is really yours.’ As she ceased speaking, the lady
of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course Jack knew she was a
fairy.
Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he advanced, and
blew the horn which hung at the castle portal. The door was opened in a
minute or two by a frightful giantess, with one great eye in the middle
of her forehead.
As soon as Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught him, and
dragged him into the castle.
‘Ho, ho!’ she laughed terribly. ‘You didn’t expect to see me here, that
is clear! No, I shan’t let you go again. I am weary of my life. I am so
overworked, and I don’t see why I should not have a page as well as
other ladies. And you shall be my boy. You shall clean the knives, and
black the boots, and make the fires, and help me generally when the
giant is out. When he is at home I must hide you, for he has eaten up
all my pages hitherto, and you would be a dainty morsel, my little
lad.’
While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The poor boy
was very much frightened, as I am sure you and I would have been in his
place. But he remembered that fear disgraces a man; so he struggled to
be brave and make the best of things.
‘I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you, madam,’
he said, ‘only I beg you will be good enough to hide me from your
husband, for I should not like to be eaten at all.’
‘That’s a good boy,’ said the Giantess, nodding her head; ‘it is lucky
for you that you did not scream out when you saw me, as the other boys
who have been here did, for if you had done so my husband would have
awakened and have eaten you, as he did them, for breakfast. Come here,
child; go into my wardrobe: he never ventures to open _that;_ you will
be safe there.’
And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall, and shut
him into it. But the keyhole was so large that it admitted plenty of
air, and he could see everything that took place through it. By-and-by
he heard a heavy tramp on the stairs, like the lumbering along of a
great cannon, and then a voice like thunder cried out;
‘Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an Englishman.
Let him be alive or let him be dead,
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’
‘Wife,’ cried the Giant, ‘there is a man in the castle. Let me have him
for breakfast.’
‘You are grown old and stupid,’ cried the lady in her loud tones. ‘It
is only a nice fresh steak off an elephant, that I have cooked for you,
which you smell. There, sit down and make a good breakfast.’
And she placed a huge dish before him of savoury steaming meat, which
greatly pleased him, and made him forget his idea of an Englishman
being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he went out for a walk;
and then the Giantess opened the door, and made Jack come out to help
her. He helped her all day. She fed him well, and when evening came put
him back in the wardrobe.