Joseph Jacobs' Fairy Tales

Jack and the Beanstalk

Summary: Jack and his mother were very poor. They had one cow and everyday they would take her milk to market to sell and they would live off of what they earned. One day, she didn't give any milk. His mom was really worried and concluded that the only thing they could do was to sell her at market. On his way to sell her, Jack came across and old man. The old man told him he has magic beans that if you plant them the next morning they will have grown to the sky. Jack traded his cow for the magic beans and took them home. His mom was angry and sent him to bed without supper. The next morning the beanstalk had indeed grown up to the sky. Jack climbed it and once he got to the sky he found a road that led to a house. On the doorstep he found a tall woman and he asked her for food. She told him to leave before her husband (an ogre) got home, because he eats little boys. He begged and begged until finally she let him in and gave him food. While he was eating her husband arrived and so she hid him in the oven. After the ogre ate breakfast and was napping Jack snuck out of the oven and on his way out, stole a bag of gold that was sitting next to the ogre. He took it back down to his mother and they lived off of that for a while. But when it ran out, Jack went back up the beanstalk and the whole process started all over. But this time, he stole a chicken that laid golden eggs every time you told her to. But he still wasn't satisfied. He went back up, but this time, he didn't talk to the woman. He hid himself and waited till the ogre was asleep. Once the ogre fell asleep he stole the golden harp that plays itself and sings. But as he was running off with it it started yelling, "master, master!" and it woke the ogre up. He started chasing after Jack. He was going to give up once he saw jack race down the beanstalk but the harp called out to him again and so he climbed down the beanstalk. Once jack got to the bottom he took an axe to the beanstalk and the ogre fell down and broke his crown and died. Jack and his mom became rich and he married a princess and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

Who would benefit from reading this tale/Who would you recommend this fairy tale to?

I would recommend this to someone who knows the difference between right and wrong. If I were to read this to my kids I would make sure that they understand that to be successful you aren't supposed to steal...

What problems/conflicts would this tale potentially cause?

Well, the way jack and his mother became rich is he stole a bunch of stuff that didn't belong to him, and there weren't any consequences for his actions. If I read this to children they might get it into their heads that it is OK to steal and cheat if they are well off because of it. Sure the ogre was a bad bloke but that doesn't give Jack the right to steal his stuff.

My Reaction:

I hate to say it, but this story bugs me. I don't think it is one that I will be reading to my children. Sure the beanstalk is cool but the moral of the story is, get rich by any means possible... That is not the way I want my kids to think. It is definitely not one of my favorite fairy tales.

The other tales I read:

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

The Story of the Three bears

Tom Tit Tot