The Giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the keyhole, and was amazed to see him pick a wolf’s bone, and put half a fowl at a time into his capacious mouth.
When the supper was ended he bade his wife bring him his hen that laid the golden eggs.
“It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that paltry knight,” he said, “indeed, I think the eggs are heavier than ever.”
The Giantess went away, and soon returned with a little brown hen, which she placed on the table before her husband.
“And now, my dear,” she said, “I am going for a walk, if you don’t want me any longer.”
“Go,” said the Giant, “I shall be glad to have a nap by and by.”
Then he took up the brown hen and said to her, “Lay!” And she instantly laid a golden egg.
“Lay!” said the Giant again. And she laid another. “Lay!” he repeated the third time. And again a golden egg lay on the table. Now, Jack was sure this hen was that of which the fairy had spoken. By and by the Giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder.
Directly Jack perceived that the Giant was fast asleep, he pushed open the door of the wardrobe and crept out. Very softly he stole across the room, and, picking up the hen, made haste to quit the apartment. He knew the way to the kitchen, the door of which he found was left ajar. He opened it, shut and locked it after him, and flew back to the Beanstalk, which he descended as fast as his feet would move.
When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for she had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the Giant had found him. But Jack put the brown hen down before her, and told her how he had been in the Giant’s castle, and all his adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would make them rich once more.
Jack made another journey up the Beanstalk to the Giant’s castle one day while his mother had gone to market, but first he dyed his hair and disguised himself. The old woman did not know him again, and dragged him in as she had done before, to help her to do the work, but she heard her husband coming, and hid him in the wardrobe, not thinking that it was the same boy who had stolen the hen. She bade him stay quite still there, or the Giant would eat him. Then the Giant came in, saying:
Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an Englishman.
Let him be alive or let him be dead,
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.
“Nonsense!” said the wife. “It is only a roasted bullock that I thought would be a titbit for your supper. Sit down and I will bring it up at once.
The Giant sat down, and soon his wife brought up a roasted bullock on a large dish, and they began their supper. Jack was amazed to see them pick the bones of the bullock as if it had been a lark. As soon as they had finished their meal, the Giantess rose and said, “Now, my dear, with your leave I am going up to my room to finish the story I am reading. If you want me, call for me.”
“First,” answered the Giant, “bring me my money bags, that I may count my golden pieces before I sleep.” The Giantess obeyed. She went and soon returned with two large bags over her shoulders, which she put down by her husband.
“There,” she said, “that is all that is left of the knight’s money. When you have spent it you must go and take another baron’s castle.”
“That he shan’t, if I can help it,” thought Jack.
The Giant, when his wife was gone, took out heaps and heaps of golden pieces, and counted them, and put them in piles, till he was tired of the amusement. Then he swept them all back into their bags, and leaning back in his chair fell fast asleep, snoring so loud that no other sound was audible.
Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags of money (which were his very own, because the Giant had stolen them from his father), he ran off, and with great difficulty descending the Beanstalk, laid the bags of gold on his mother’s table. She had just returned from town, and was crying at not finding Jack. “There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father lost.”
“Oh, Jack! You are a very good boy, but I wish you would not risk your precious life in the Giant’s castle. Tell me how you came to go there again.”
And Jack told her all about it.
Jack’s mother was very glad to get the money, but she did not like him to run any risk for her.
But after a time Jack made up his mind to go again to the Giant’s castle.
So he climbed the Beanstalk once more, and blew the horn at the Giant’s gate. The Giantess soon opened the door. She was very stupid, and did not know him again, but she stopped a minute before she took him in. She feared another robbery, but Jack’s fresh face looked so innocent that she could not resist him, and so she bade him come in, and again hid him away in the wardrobe.
The End, Part Three