Written by Joseph Jacobs, the story of Jack and the Beanstalk takes children into a fantastical world where imagination and courage transform reality. Published in 1890, the story is part of a series of English texts loved by the whole world.
Like all stories, this one begins with… once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack. You will learn the story of him and some enchanted beans that helped him climb up to the sky, in the land of a greedy giant.
After a long winter, Jack realized that he and his mother had nothing left to feed their cow, so he took her to the market to sell her. On the way he met a thin old man in poor clothes, who offered him some enchanted beans in exchange for the cow. Upset that Jack didn’t return with money, Mom threw the beans out the window, but overnight, they turned into a spell so high you couldn’t see the end of it. Curious, Jack climbed the stem. After about an hour, a large, dark palace with stone walls appeared in front of him. It didn’t look like it was inhabited by a good man, but Jack thought of trying the front door, he was very hungry. As he approached, a woman came out of the palace and told him that a scary giant lived there. No sooner had he finished speaking than the giant smelled meat and came down from his room. In order to save Jack, the woman hid him in the shed and invited the giant to the table so that he would stop searching all corners of the room for the smell of a man. While he was eating, the giant used to count his money and brag about his wealth – and he was very rich!
After a rich meal, the Giant fell asleep happily. Jack came out of hiding, took some coins, a goose that laid golden eggs, and a harp that could play itself, put them in a sack and ran for the exit. But just as he crossed the threshold, the bag hit the door and it began to creak, and the giant awoke. Luckily Jack had already thought of that and tied his shoelaces, so he managed to get ahead of the Giant at the beanstalk and quickly slide down it for home. In vain did the Giant try to catch him, for down below Mother and Jack quickly cut the bean-stalk, and the Giant collapsed.
From that moment on, mom and Jack didn’t worry about money anymore and had a good life.
Retelling of the original story, by Joseph Jacobs
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