“That is well,” said the lady, “only you must be careful how you poke about there, for that castle belongs to a very fierce and rich and terrible giant: and now I will tell you something: all the riches he has used to belong to your father; the giant stole them from him, so if you can fetch anything away with you it will be a right and fair thing.”
Jack thanked her for what she told him, and then he went on, setting one foot before the other.
After awhile he came to the castle, and there was a woman sweeping the steps, and she was the giant’s wife.
When she saw Jack she looked frightened. “What do you want here?” she cried. “Be off with you before my husband comes home, for if he finds you here it will be the worse for you I can tell you.”
“Yes, yes, I know”; said Jack, “but I’ve had no breakfast, and I’m like to drop I’m so hungry. Just give me a bite to stay my stomach and I’ll be off.” The giant’s wife did not want to do that at all, but Jack begged and coaxed until at last she let him come into the house and got out a bit of bread and cheese for him.
Jack had hardly set down to it when there was a great noise and stamping outside.
“Oh, mercy!” cried the giant’s wife, and she turned quite pale. “There’s my husband coming in, and if he sees you here he’ll swallow you down in a trice, and give me a beating into the bargain.”
When Jack heard that he did not like it at all. “Can you not hide me some place?” he asked.
“Here, creep into this copper pot,” cried the woman, taking off the lid. She helped Jack into the pot and put the lid over him, and she had no more than done it before the giant came stumping into the room.
“Fee, fi, fo, fum!
I smell the blood of an Englishman!”
he roared.
“Be he alive or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.”
“What nonsense!” said his wife. “If anyone had come here don’t you suppose I would have seen him? A crow flew over the roof and dropped a bone down the chimney, and that is what you smell.”
When she said that the giant believed her. He sat down at the table and called for breakfast. The woman set before him three whole roasted oxen and two loaves of bread each as big as a hogshead, and the giant ate them up in a twinkling.
“Now, wife, bring me my moneybags from the treasure-room,” he said.
His wife went out through a great door studded with nails, and when she came back she brought two bags with her and set them on the table in front of the giant. The giant untied the strings and opened them, and they were full of clinking golden money. The giant sat there and counted and counted the money. After it was all counted he put it back in the bags again, and then he stretched his legs out in front of him and went to sleep and snored until the rafters shook.
The giant’s wife worked around for awhile and then she went into another room. Jack waited until he was sure she had gone, and then he pushed the lid of the pot aside and crept out. He crept over to the table and seized hold of the moneybags and made off with them, and neither the giant nor his wife knew anything about it until Jack was safe down the bean-stalk and home again.
When Jack’s mother saw the moneybags she was filled with wonder and joy. “Those were once your father’s,” said she, “but they were stolen from him, and never did I think to see them again.”
After that Jack and his mother lived well, they had plenty to eat and drink, and good clothes to wear, and everything they wanted. And they were not stingy; they shared their good luck with their neighbors as well.
After awhile the money was almost gone. “I’ll just climb up the bean-stalk again,” said Jack to himself, “and see what else the giant has in his castle.”
He climbed and he climbed and he climbed, and after awhile he came to the giant’s country, and there in front of him lay the road to the castle. Jack walked along briskly, setting one foot in front of the other till he came to the castle door, and as he saw no one he opened the door and stepped inside.
There was the giant’s wife scouring the pots and pans, and when she saw Jack she almost dropped the skillet she was holding.
“You here again?”
“Yes, here I am again,” said Jack.
“Then I wish you were some place else,” said the giant’s wife; “when you were here before our moneybags were stolen, and I can’t help thinking you had something to do with it.”
“Oh, oh! How can you think that?” cried Jack.
“Well, be off with you, anyway”; and the giant’s wife spoke quite glumly. “I want no more strange lads around here.”
Yes, Jack would be off in a moment, but wouldn’t she give him a bite of breakfast first?
No, the giant’s wife wouldn’t, and that was flat.
But Jack was not to be turned off so easily; he talked and begged and argued, and while he was still talking they heard the giant at the door.
The giant’s wife was terribly scared, “Oh, if he finds you here won’t I get a beating!” she cried.
“Quick; into the pot again!”
Jack crawled into the copper pot and the giant’s wife put the lid over him.
The next moment the giant stamped into the room.
“Fee, fi, fo, fum,”
he bawled,
“I smell the blood of an Englishman;
Be he alive or be he dead,
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread!”
“Nonsense,” said his wife, “you’re always fancying things. Here, sit down at the table and eat your breakfast. A crow flew over the roof and dropped a bone in the fire, and that is what you smell.”
The giant sniffed about a bit, and then, still muttering to himself, he sat down at the table and began to eat. After he had finished he cried, “Now wife, bring me my little red hen from the treasure-room.”
His wife went into the treasure-room, and presently she came back with a little red hen in her apron. She set it on the table before the giant. The giant grinned till he showed all his teeth.
“My little red hen, my pretty red hen, lay,” said the giant.
As soon as he said that the hen laid an egg all of pure gold.
“My little red hen, my pretty red hen, lay!” said the giant. Then the little red hen laid another egg.
“My little red hen, my pretty red hen, lay,” said the giant. Then the hen laid a third egg.
“There!” said the giant, “that is enough for to-day. Now, wife, you can take her back to the treasure-room again.”
His wife took up the hen and carried her off to the treasure-room, but when she came back into the kitchen she forgot to shut the treasure-room door behind her.
Then the giant stretched his legs out in front of him and went to sleep and snored till the rafters shook.
His wife worked around in the kitchen, and after awhile, when she wasn’t looking, Jack crept out of the pot. He crept over to the door of the treasure-room and slipped through, and there was the little red hen sitting comfortably on a golden nest.
Jack caught her up under his arm and she never made a sound. Then he crept back through the kitchen and out through the door, and made off down the