CHAPTER XVII

JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK

In the days of King Alfred, there lived a poor woman whose cottage was situated in a remote country village, a great many miles from London.  She had been a widow some years, and had an only child named Jack, whom she indulged to a fault.  The consequence of her blind partiality was, that Jack did not pay the least attention to any thing she said, but was indolent, careless, and extravagant.  His follies were not owing to a bad disposition, but that his mother had never checked him.  By degrees she disposed of all she possessed—­scarcely any thing remained but a cow.  The poor woman one day met Jack with tears in her eyes; her distress was great, and for the first time in her life she could not help reproaching him, saying, “Oh! you wicked child, by your ungrateful course of life you have at last brought me to beggary and ruin.  Cruel, cruel boy!  I have not money enough to purchase even a bit of bread for another day—­nothing now remains to sell but my poor cow!  I am sorry to part with her; it grieves me sadly, but we must not starve.”  For a few minutes, Jack felt a degree of remorse, but it was soon over, and he began teasing his mother to let him sell the cow at the next village, so much, that she at last consented.  As he was going along, he met a butcher, who inquired why he was driving the cow from home?  Jack replied, he was going to sell it.  The butcher held some curious beans in his hat; they were of various colours, and attracted Jack’s attention.  This did not pass unnoticed by the butcher, who, knowing Jack’s easy temper, thought now was the time to take an advantage of it; and determined not to let slip so good an opportunity, asked what was the price of the cow, offering at the same time all the beans in his hat for her.  The silly boy could not conceal the pleasure he felt at what he supposed so great an offer, the bargain was struck instantly, and the cow exchanged for a few paltry beans.  Jack made the best of his way home, calling aloud to his mother before he reached home, thinking to surprise her.

When she saw the beans, and heard Jack’s account, her patience quite forsook her.  She kicked the beans away in a passion—­they flew in all directions—­some were scattered in the garden.  Not having any thing to eat, they both went supperless to bed.  Jack woke early in the morning, and seeing something uncommon from the window of his bedchamber, ran down stairs into the garden, where he soon discovered that some of the beans had taken root, and sprung up surprisingly:  the stalks were of an immense thickness, and had so entwined, that they formed a ladder nearly like a chain in appearance.  Looking upward, he could not discern the top, it appeared to be lost in the clouds:  he tried it, found it firm, and not to be shaken.  He quickly formed the resolution of endeavouring to climb up to the top, in order to seek his fortune, and ran to communicate