red fairy book

Chapter 17 Jack and the Beanstalk (2)

3.chicken giant laying golden eggs
Came back for dinner.Jack saw him through the keyhole.He watched in amazement as the giant ate a wolf, and then swallowed half a chicken in one gulp.After dinner, he asked his wife to bring the chicken that lays golden eggs.

"It's as good as the egg laid in the hands of that cheap lord! In fact, I think the egg is heavier now."

The giantess went away, and soon came back with a little gray hen.She put the chicken before her husband and said:
"Here, dear, I'm going for a walk, if there's nothing else to do."

"Go," said the Giant, "I am glad to rest for a while."

Then he held up the hen and said, "Lay an egg." The hen laid a golden egg.

"Lay eggs," said the giant.The hen laid another one.

"Lay the eggs," he said again.A golden egg fell on the table again.

Now, Jack was sure, the fairy was talking about this chicken.

The giant put the chicken on the ground, and soon fell asleep, snoring like thunder.Jack pushed open the door and crept out quietly.He sneaked across the room, picked up the chicken, and ran away quickly.He knew his way to the kitchen, where the door was open.He unscrewed the door, then locked it again, hurried back to the Beanstalk, and slipped down.

His mother cried with joy when she saw him enter the house.She had thought that the Fairy had taken him away, or that the Giant had found him.Jack gave her the chicken, and told her how he got to the castle, and what happened there.She is glad the chickens are back and they are rich.

4.money bag
Jack went to the castle again while his mother was going to the market.He dyed his hair and dressed up in disguise.The giantess did not recognize him, and dragged him into the house, and told him to help her with work.But when she heard the sound of her husband coming back, she immediately hid him in the hiding room, without even thinking that this was the guy who stole the chicken.She told him to stay there quietly, or the giant would eat him.

Then the Giant came in and said, "Fly, fly, fly, I smell the Englishman. Let him die or live? I will grind his bones for bread."

"Nonsense!" said his wife, "I made you a bull. Sit down and I'll fetch it for you!"

The Giant sat down, and his wife brought him a great plate of roast beef, and they ate.Jack was surprised to see that they ate the bones too.After eating, the giantess stood up and said, "Now, dear, I'm going back to my room to read, and call me if I need anything."

"Bring me the purse. I'll count the gold before I go to sleep."

The giantess came over carrying two large bags.

"Here, here's all the money the Sir left. When you spend it all, you'll have to find another Baron."

"He can't do it with me around," thought Jack.

His wife left, and the Giant took out stacks of gold coins and counted them.Later, when he was tired, he put the gold coins back in the bag, leaned on the chair and fell asleep.He was snoring so loudly that nothing else could be heard.

Jack sneaked out of the closet, and ran away with the money, which the Giant had stolen from his father anyway.He managed to get the beanstalk down, and put the gold coin on mother's table.She just came back and cried when she didn't see Jack.

"Here, mother, I have brought back father's gold coin."

"Jack, you're a good boy! But I hope you don't go in again, it's life-threatening! Tell me how you got in."

Jack told her everything.

The money made Jack's mother happy, but she didn't want to put Jack at risk.

But, before long, Jack decided to go again.

5.talking harp

He climbed up the beanstalk again, and blew the horn at the giant's door.The giantess opened the door, and she was really foolish to not recognize him, but she hesitated before grabbing him in.She was afraid of being stolen again.Jack's face was so innocent that she let him in anyway and hid him in the cloakroom.

The Giant came home, and as soon as he had passed the threshold he roared, "Fly, fly, fly, I smell the Englishman, let him die or let him live? I will grind his bones for bread. "

"You old, stupid thing!" said his wife, "but the smell of sheep."

The Giant sat down, and his wife brought him his supper, and he ate it all, and said, "Bring me my harp, for I will listen to music while you walk."

The giantess did so, and brought him a beautiful harp.The body of the harp is studded with diamonds and rubies, and the strings are made of gold.

"This is the best thing I ever got from Sir," said the Giant. "I love music, and this harp is a faithful servant."

He drew the harp and said, "Play!"

The harp played a beautiful and sad tune.

"Have some fun," said the giant.

A happy song came from the harp.

"Now play a lullaby," growled the Giant.The harp played a sweet lullaby, and the devil fell asleep to the sound of the music.

Jack sneaked out and went into the kitchen to see if the giant woman had gone away.No one was there, and he went to open the door, because he thought he would not be able to open it when he got the heavy fiddle.

He went into the giant's room again, and walked out with the qin in his arms.But when he got to the threshold, Jean said, "Master! Master!"

The giant woke up.

He let out a loud roar, jumped up from his seat, and reached the door in two steps.

Jack was very agile, and he ran forward like lightning holding the qin, talking to the qin while running, telling it that he was the son of the old jazz.

The giant was already very close to Jack, and stretched out his huge hand to grab him.Fortunately, at this point he stepped on a loose rock, wobbled, and fell.

This little accident gave Jack his chance, and he ran to the beanstalk and slid down quickly.When he reached the garden, he looked up and saw the Giant coming down after him.

"Mother, mother!" cried Jack, "give me an axe!"

His mother ran out with an axe, and Jack chopped up all the beanstalks except one.

"Mom, get out of the way!" he said.

6.The giant's neck is broken
Jack's mother backed away a few steps, just in time for the giant to grab the last beanstalk, and Jack sprinted across it and chopped it off.

The giant fell, and his head fell, and his neck was broken, right at the feet of the woman he had hurt.

Before Jack and his mother woke up from the shock, a beautiful fairy stood in front of them.

"Jack," she said, "you are the son of the brave knight, and you deserve your inheritance.

Bury the giant, go back and kill the giant woman. "

Jack answered, "I can't kill a man if it's not a fight; and I can't put my sword on a woman. Besides, the giant woman has been kind to me."

The Fairy smiled at Jack.

"Your generosity pleases me very much," she said, "but go back to the castle, you are needed there."

The beanstalk was broken.Jack asked the fairy how to get to the castle, and she said to take him there in her chariot.The chariot was pulled by two peacocks, and Jack thanked her and got into the chariot.

The fairy took him a long way to a village at the foot of the mountain.There they saw a group of miserable-looking people.The Fairy stopped and asked them, "Friends, the Giant who oppressed you and ate your kindred is dead. This young gentleman is the son of the good old Sir, and is your savior."

The crowd cheered together and rushed to the front to say that they would serve Jack for the rest of their lives, as faithfully as they had been to his father.The fairy told them to go to the castle together, and they lined up to go forward.Jack blew the horn and told the giant woman to open the door.

When the giant woman saw them coming from upstairs, she was terrified, and knew that something had happened to her husband.She ran downstairs so fast that she tripped over her skirt and broke her neck.

When no one opened the door, people outside used sticks to pry the door open.There was no one in the room, and when we got to the hall, we found the giant woman lying on the stairs.

Jack has regained possession of the castle.The Fairy took his mother too, with the chicken and the harp.He buried the giant woman and tried his best to be kind to those who were oppressed by giants.

Before the Fairy left, she told Jack that she had sent the butcher to exchange beans with Jack, and wanted to see what kind of man Jack was.

"If you see a giant beanstalk and you just walk around it stupidly," she said, "you may suffer your fate, and I'll give the cow back to your mother. But you have a heart that keeps searching , and great courage and perseverance, so you should have good luck, when you climb the beanstalk, you climb the ladder of prosperity."

Then the fairy left Jack and his mother.

(End of this chapter)