“Jack and the Beanstalk” is an English fairy tale. It appeared as “The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean” in 1734 and as Benjamin Tabart‘s moralized “The History of Jack and the Beanstalk” in 1807. Read these online free short stories for kids and enjoy.
Jack and the Beanstalk
Once upon a time, there lived a widow and her son, Jack, on their countryside farm.
They were very poor and they barely had money to keep themselves fed. Jack helped his mother every day with the chores – chopping the wood, weeding the garden and milking their cow; Bess.
But one spring day Jack’s mother called him and said, “What shall we do, Jack?” Jack looked at her mother. She was very sad.
“We don’t have enough money to buy seed for the farm this year! Without seeds we don’t have any harvest this year. We must sell our cow, Old Bess, and with the money we can buy seeds.”
“All right, mother,” said Jack,” today is Sunday. And market-day Today. I ‘ll go to the market and sell Bess.”
So Jack took their cow and went to the market and on the way he met an old man who said to him, “Good morning, Jack.”
Jack wondered how this old man knew his name. But he said, “Good morning to you.”
“Where are you carrying this cow in this morning?” asked the man.
“I’m going to the market to sell our cow” Jack answered.
“Oh, You are a good boy. I have a special deal for you if you sell this cow to me.” Old man said.
He looked around to make sure no one watching and then he took out a small pouch from his pocket. He opened it and got something to his arm and showed it to Jack.
“Beans! You are going to give me these beans for Bess?” asked Jack, looking bit confused.
Old man laughed “Young man. These are magical bean seeds. I’ll give you these beans for your cow. If you plant these seeds them over-night, by morning they grow right up to the sky,” he promised.
“Really?” said Jack, “and you’re quite sure they’re magical?”
“Yes Of Course! And if it doesn’t turn out to be true you can have your cow back.”
So, Jack gave Bess to the old man, took those five beans then returned home. He was happy and he wanted to his mother what he got.
Mom waited for him when he reached home. She surprised how quickly Jack sold their cow.
So, she went outside and asked “I see you haven’t got Old Bess — you’ve sold her so quickly. How much did you get for her?”
Jack took five beans’ seeds and showed them to his mother. “Mother look what I got for Bess. These seeds are magical. When you plant them over-night and……”
He could not complete his sentence because his mother started to cry. She was angry so she took beans from Jack’s hand and threw them to garden. “What a silly boy you are. You sell our only cow for these beans? I can’t believe you did.”
Then she went home. Jack looked at the garden. Now he too was sad. He went to bed without having dinner. After much tossing and turning, at last Jack dropped off to sleep.
When Jack woke up the next morning, he felt strange about his room. The sun was shining into part of it like it normally did, and yet all the rest was quite dark and shady. So, Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? Why, the beans he had thrown out to the garden had sprung up into a big beanstalk which went up and up and up until it reached the sky.
“The old man had not lied” Jack thought looking at that huge beanstalk.
Using the leaves and twisty vines like the rungs of a ladder, Jack climbed and climbed until at last, he reached the sky. And when he got there, he saw a very huge castle in the distance. There was a long, broad road winding its way through the clouds to the castle.
Jack ran up the road toward the castle and just as he reached it, the door swung open to reveal a horrible lady giant, 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.
“Don’t be in such a hurry, I’m sure a growing boy like you would like a nice, big breakfast,” said the great, big, tall woman, “It’s been so long since I got to make breakfast for a boy.”
Well, the lady giant wasn’t such a bad sort, after all — even if she was a bit odd. She took Jack into the kitchen and gave him a chunk of cheese and a glass of milk. But Jack had only taken a few bites when thump! thump! thump! the whole house began to tremble with the noise of someone coming.
“Goodness gracious me! It’s my husband,” said the giant woman, wringing her hands, “what on earth shall I do? There’s nothing he likes better than boys broiled on toast, I haven’t any bread left. Oh dear, I never should have let you stay for breakfast. Here, come quick and jump in here.”
And she hurried Jack into a large copper pot sitting beside the stove just as her husband, the giant, came in.
The giant was bigger than her wife. He too had a one great scary eye in the middle of his forehead. He ducked inside the kitchen and said, “I’m ready for my breakfast — I’m so hungry I could eat three cows. Ah, what’s this I smell?
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive or be he dead.
I’ll have his bones to grind my bread.
“Nonsense, dear,” said his wife, “we haven’t had a boy for breakfast in years. Now you go and wash up and by the time you come back your breakfast ‘ll be ready for you.”
So, the giant went off to tidy up. Jack was about to make a run for it to the beanstalk when the woman stopped him. “Wait until he’s asleep,” she said, “he always has a little snooze after breakfast.”
Jack peeked out of the copper pot just as the giant returned to the kitchen. He carried a basket filled with golden eggs and a sickly-looking, white hen. The giant poked the hen and growled, “Lay”. Then the hen laid an egg made of gold which the giant added to the basket.
After his breakfast, the giant went to the closet and pulled out a golden harp with the face of a sad, young girl. The giant poked the harp and growled, “Play” and the harp began to play a gentle tune while her lovely face sang a lullaby. Then the giant began to nod his head and to snore until the house shook.
When he was quite sure the giant was asleep, Jack crept out of the copper pot and began to tiptoe out of the kitchen. Just as he was about to leave, he heard the sound of the harp-girl weeping. Jack bit his lip, sighed and returned to the kitchen.
He grabbed the sickly hen and the singing harp and began to tiptoe back out. But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the giant. Just as Jack got out of the house, he heard him calling, “Wife, wife, what have you done with my white hen and my golden harp?”
Jack ran as fast as he could and the giant, realizing he had been tricked, came rushing after – away from the castle and down the broad, winding road. The giant stomped his foot and roared angrily. Then he sang again in his hoarse voice.
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive or be he dead.
I’ll have his bones to grind my bread.
Giant saw Jack disappeared suddenly and he confused. When he looked down from the road end, he saw Jack and the beanstalk, Jack underneath climbing down for dear life. Then he swung himself down onto the beanstalk which shook with his weight. Jack slipped, slid and climbed down the beanstalk as quickly as he could, and after him climbed the giant.
As he neared the bottom, Jack called out, “Mother! Please! Hurry, bring me an axe, bring me an axe.” And his mother came rushing out with Jack’s wood chopping axe in her hand. When she came to the enormous beanstalk, she stood stock still with fright.
Jack jumped down, got hold of the axe and began to chop away at the beanstalk. Luckily, he had practice of chopping, because of all the chores he’d done over the years. It didn’t take long for him to chop through enough of the beanstalk that it began to teeter.
The giant felt the beanstalk shake and quiver so he stopped to see what was the matter. Then Jack gave one last big chop with the axe, and the beanstalk began to topple over. Then the giant fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling after.
The singing harp thanked Jack for rescuing her from the giant. She had hated being locked up in the closet all day and night. She wanted nothing more than to sit in the farmhouse window and sing to the birds and the butterflies in the sunshine.
After that with a bit of patience and his mother’s help, it didn’t take long for Jack to get the sickly hen back in good health. So, the grateful hen continued to lay a fresh golden egg every day.
Jack used the money from selling the golden eggs to buy back Old Bess and to purchase seed for the spring crop and to fix up his mother’s farm. He even had enough left over to invite every one of his neighbors over for a nice meal, complete with music from the singing harp.
And so, Jack, his mother, Old Bess, the golden harp and the white hen lived happy ever after.
Based on Jack and the Beanstalk story, a movie was created in 2013, called Jack the Giant Slayer. If you like to watch the trailer of that movie I have added it.
And if you wish to download the Jack and the Giant Slayer Movie, get it from here.
Watch world most famous Jack and the Beanstalk Cartoon
Read more amazing and wonderful bedtime short stories. We have all beautiful and universal short stories. Read and enjoy.
Sasindu Jayasri is an Engineering student from Sri Lanka and he studies mechanical engineering at the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Moratuwa. He is passionate about writing and giving inspiration to the world. Follow him in LinkedIn for updates and you can contact him directly.
