Jack was the curious and daydreaming son of a poor farmer. They had a cow and lived off vegetables from the garden. One day the cow’s old age prevented it from giving milk ever again. Jack was sent to town to sell the cow.
On his way to town, Jack met a friendly old man. “I’ll give you these magic beans in exchange for that old cow.” Jack believed in the magic beans with all his heart. But when he went home and showed his mother the beans she got angry and upset, “now we have nothing left,” she cried.
Jack, still firmly believing in the magic of the beans, decided to plant them. “If they’re not magical, at least we’ll be able to eat them,” he hopefully thought.
Remarkably the beans had grown overnight and reached far above the clouds. Jack, curious as he was, climbed up the stems. When he reached the top he walked into a meadow, in the distance he saw a castle.
Jack was greeted by a fairy. She told him that the castle once had belonged to a brave knight. But a giant killed the knight and took residence in the castle. The wife and son of the knight weren’t home when it happened and were able to get away. “Jack,” said the fairy, “that castle belonged to your father and now it belongs to you. You can reclaim it, but do you have the courage?” “I fear nothing,” Jack heard himself reply bravely.
“Listen,” said the fairy. “You have to retrieve two items from the castle, a chicken that lays golden eggs and a talking harp.” Courageously, Jack knocked on the door. From there he was dragged into the castle by the giant’s wife. She said “You’ve come just at the right time! I need a new servant. Do as i say or else my husband will eat you, just like he did with the others before you. But i will hide you well!”
Just a little later the giant arrived home. Jack was hidden in a kitchen cupboard and heard the giant roar: “Oh what a joy, I smell a little boy. Whether alive or dead, I shall put him on my bread.” “No darling,” said the giant’s wife. “You smell this amazing elephant steak!” And she put a giant plate with meat on the table. Days on end Jack had to do chores for the giant. And every evening she put him back in the cupboard.‘
One night, Jack peeped through the keyhole and saw the giant with a chicken. The chicken laid golden eggs. During his wife’s evening stroll, the giant fell asleep. Jack snuck out of the cupboard, grabbed the chicken, ran to the beanstalk and climbed down.
A while later Jack climbed up the beanstalk again. The giant’s wife was a little dumb and didn’t recognize Jack. So she put him to work as her servant again. During her evening stroll the giant started counting gold coins, but fell asleep. Jack quickly filled his pockets with coins and ran home.
Jack returned to the castle for a third time. Again the silly giant’s wife didn’t recognize him and put him to work. She left for her evening stroll. The giant got out his golden harp and asked it to play him a song. The giant fell asleep.
Jack took his chance and grabbed the harp. The harp started screaming, “master, master!” The giant woke up and Jack made a run for the beanstalk. The giant sprinted after him. Jack called to his mother: “Get me an axe!” He quickly started hacking down the beanstalk. The giant fell off beanstalk and crashed down to the ground. That was the end of the giant.
The fairy reappeared. “Jack,” she said. “You behaved as the son of a brave knight. It’s time you return to your castle.” This time the fairy came along. On their way they stopped at a village. The fairy spoke to the people, “the son of the knight has returned. He killed the giant who took everything from you.” The people were eager to help Jack scare off the giant’s wife. She saw the big stampede coming and left as quickly as she could.
If you truly believe in magic, it will come true. That is the reason Jack got his castle back.
