Jack And The Bean-Stalk

`Jack was a poor widow's heir, but he lived as a drone in

```a beehive,

`Hardly a handstir a day did he work. To squander her

```earnings

`Seem'd to the poor widow hard, who raved and scolded

```him always.

`Nought in her house was left; not a cheese, not a loaf,

```not an onion;

`Nought but a cow in her yard, and that must go to the

```market.

`"Sell me the cow," cried she; then he sold it, gad! for

```a handful----

`Only to think!------of beans.

````She shied them out thro' the window,

`Cursing him: hied to her bed, there slept, but awoke in

```amazement,

`Seeing a huge bean-stalk, many leaves, many pods, many

```flowers,

`Pod by pod Jack arose, till he came to a pod that alarm'd

```him.

`Bridge-like this long pod stretch'd out, and touch'd on

```an island

`Veil'd in vapour.

````A shape from the island waved him a signal,

`Waved with a shining hand, and Jack with an humble

```obeisance

`Crawl'd to the shape, who remark'd, "I gave those beans

```to ye, darling.

`I am a fairy, a friend to ye, Jack;

````See yonder a Giant

`Lives, who slew your own good father, see what a

```fortress!

`Enter it, have no fear, since I, your fairy, protect you."

`Jack march'd up to the gate,

````In a moment pass'd to the kitchen

`Led by the savoury smell. This Giant's wife with a

```ladle

`Basted a young elephant (Jack's namesake shriek'd and

```turn'd it).

`Back Jack shrank in alarm: with fat cheeks peony-

```bulbous,

`Ladle in hand, she stood, and spake in a tone of amuse-

```ment:

`"Oh! what a cramp'd-up, small, unsesquipedalian object!"

`Then from afar came steps, heavy tramps, as a pavior

```hamm'ring;

`Out of her huge moon-cheeks the redundant peony faded,

`Jack's lank hair she grabb'd, and, looking sad resolution,

`Popt him aghast in among her saucepans' grimy

```recesses.

`Then strode in, with a loud heavy-booted thunder of

```heel-taps,

`He with a tiger at heel--her Giant, swarthy, colossal:

`"I smell flesh of a man; yea, wife, tho' he prove but a

```morsel,

`Man tastes good."

``She replied, "Sure thou be'est failing in eyesight;

`Tis but a young elephant, my sweetest lord, not a biped."

`Down he crook'd his monstrous knees, and rested his hip-

```bones,

`Call'd for his hen, said, "Lay so she, with a chuck cock-

```a-doodle,

`Dropt him an egg, pure gold, a refulgent, luminous oval,--

`That was her use:--when he push'd her aside, cried,

```"Bring me the meat now,"

`Gorged his enormous meal, fell prone, and lost recollection.

`Jack from a saucepan watch'd his broad chest's monstrous

```upheavals:

`Then to the chamber above both dame and tiger ascended.

`"Now for it, hist!" says Jack--"coast clear, and none to

```behold me,"

`Airily Jack stole forth, and seized the plump, money-

```laying,

`Priceless, mystical hen;

``Ran forth, sped away from the bean-stalk,

`Heard from afar, then near, heavy tramps, as a pavior

```hamm'ring,

````With a bounding, grasshopper action,

`Left the Colossus aghast at an edge of his own little island,

`Lighted on earth, whom she, that bare him, fondly saluting,

`Dropt a maternal tear, and dried that tear with her

```apron,

`Seeing him home and safe; and after it, all was a hey-day,

`Lots of loaves, and tons of cheeses, a barnful of onions;

`Cows and calves, and creams, and gold eggs piled to the

```ceilings:

`Horses,

And pigs,

"Idle Jack"

`Ah! but he found in a while his life of laziness irksome.

`"Climb me," the bean-stalk said with a whisper. Jack,

```reascending,

`Swarm'd to the wonderful isle once more, and high

```habitation;

`Led by the fairy return'd to the fortress, pass'd to the

```kitchen,

`Unseen, hied him again to the saucepans' grimy recesses,

```Peep'd out into -the room. The plump wife, peony-

`bulbous,

`Toasted a constrictor, which roll'd in vast revolutions.

`Then strode in, strong-booted again, with a roar, the

```Colossus:

`Call'd for his harp, said "Play."

````So this, with a sharp treble ting-tong,

`Play'd him an air, a delightful, long-drawn, national

```anthem,

`Play'd him an air, untouch'd, (the strings, by a fairy

```magician

`Wrought, were alive).

`Then he shouted aloud, "Wife,

``bring me the meat now,"

`Gorged his elongate meal; the snake in warm revolutions,

`Making his huge bulk swell, disappear'd like Man's

```macaroni:

`After, he yawn'd and snored, fell prone, and lost

```recollection.

```And bolted. A murmur

`"Master, master, a rascal, a rascal!" rang thro' the harp-

```strings.

`Quickly the monster awoke, and wielding a cudgel,--

```an oak tree,--

`Chased little Jack

`With a shout of mighty, maniacal anger;

`Jack to the beanpod sprang with a leap, and desperate

````hurl'd his

`Limbs in a downward, furious, headlong pre-cipitation,

`But for a wink up-glanced; his foeman's ponderous

```hob-nails

`Shone from aloft:

`````Down crash'd big pods, and bean

```avalanches.

`"Haste mother, haste mother, oh! mother, haste, and

```bring me the hatchet!"

`Cried Jack, alighting on earth. She brought him an

```axe double-handed.

`Jack cleft clean thro' the haulm; that Giant desperate

```hurl'd his

`Limbs in a downward, roaring, thund'ring pre-cipitation,

`Crash'd to the ground stone-dead, with a crash as a crag

```from a mountain.

`"I'm your master now," said Jack to the harp at his

```elbow;

`"There's your old 'un! of him pray give your candid

```opinion!"

`Sweetly the mystical harp responded, "Master, a rascal!"