cat! kill the rat, the rat doesn’t gnaw the rope, the rope doesn’t hang the butcher, the butcher doesn’t kill the ox, the ox doesn’t drink the water, the water doesn’t quench the fire, the fire doesn’t burn the stick, the stick doesn’t beat the dog, the dog doesn’t bite the pig, the pig doesn’t get over the stile, and I shan’t get home tonight.” But the cat said to her, “If you go to that cow and fetch me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat.”
So the old woman went away to the cow.
But the cow said to her, “If you go to that haystack and fetch me some hay, I’ll give you the milk.”
So the old woman went away to the haystack, and she brought the hay to the cow.
When the cow ate the hay, it gave the old woman the milk, and she went with it in a saucer to the cat.
When the cat lapped up[62] the milk, the cat began to kill the rat, the rat began to gnaw the rope, the rope began to hang the butcher, the butcher began to kill the ox, the ox began to drink the water, the water began to quench the fire, the fire began to burn the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig, the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile, and so the old woman got home that night.
Jack and the Beanstalk
There was once upon a time a poor widow who had a son named Jack and a cow named Milky-white. Every morning the cow gave the milk which they carried to the market and sold. But one morning Milky-white gave no milk, and they didn’t know what to do.
“What shall we do, what shall we do?” said the widow.
“Oh, mother, I’ll go and get work somewhere,” said Jack.
“We tried that before, and nobody took you,” said his mother. “We must sell Milky-white.”
“All right, mother,” says Jack. “I’ll sell Milky-white, and then we’ll see what we can do.”
So he took the cow’s halter in his hand and went to the market. While he was going, he met an old man who said to him: “Good morning, Jack.”
“Good morning to you,” said Jack and wondered how he knew his name.
“Jack, where are you going?” said the man.
“I’m going to the market to sell our cow there.”
“Oh, I have five beans,” said the man, “and let’s change[63]: your cow for these beans.”
“You swindler,” says Jack, “it won’t go![64]“
“Ah! you don’t know what these beans are,” said the man. “If you plant them over-night, by morning they grow right up to the sky[65].”
“Really?” says Jack. “I don’t believe you.”
“Yes, that is so, and if this is not true, you can have your cow back.”
“Good,” says Jack and gives him over Milky-white’s and takes the beans.
Jack came home happily.
“So what[66], Jack?” said his mother. “I see you don’t have Milky-white, so you sold her. How much did you get for her?”
“You’ll never guess, mother,” says Jack.
“Oh no! Good boy! Five pounds, ten, fifteen… Or twenty?”
“No, just look: five magical beans.”
“What!” says Jack’s mother. “My son is a fool, such a dolt! Oh my dear Milky-white! Take that![67] Take that! Take that! And your precious beans will go out of the window.”
So Jack went upstairs to his little room in the attic, and he was very sad. At last he began to sleep.
When he woke up, the room looked so funny. The sun was shining into part of it, and all the rest[68] was quite dark and shady. So Jack jumped up and dressed himself and went to the window. And what do you think he saw? The beans that his mother threw out of the window into the garden sprang up into a big beanstalk[69] which went up and up and up till it reached the sky. So the man spoke truth!
The beanstalk grew up quite close past Jack’s window, so Jack opened it and jumped on the beanstalk which was like a big ladder. So Jack climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till at last he reached the sky. And when he got there, he found a long broad road. So he walked along and he walked along and he walked along till he came to a great big tall house, and on the doorstep there was a great big tall woman.
“Good morning,” says Jack politely. “Could you give me some breakfast?” He was as hungry as a hunter[70].
“You want breakfast, don’t you?” says the great big tall woman. “It’s breakfast you’ll be if you don’t go away.[71] My husband is an ogre, and he likes to eat boys broiled on toast.”
“Oh! please give me something to eat. I’m very hungry, really and truly,” says Jack.
The ogre’s wife was a kind woman. So she took Jack into the kitchen and gave him some bread and some cheese and a jug of milk. Suddenly, Jack heard a terrible noise: someone was coming.
“Oh, it’s my husband,” said the ogre’s wife, “what shall I do? Here, come quick and jump in here[72].” And she put Jack into the oven just as the ogre came in.
The ogre was really big. At his belt he had three pigs, and he threw them down on the table and said, “Here, wife, broil me a couple of these for breakfast. Ah! What’s this I smell?[73]”
“Nothing, dear,” said his wife. “Here, go and have a wash, and by the time you come back[74], your breakfast will be ready for you.”
So the ogre went off, and the woman told Jack, “Wait till he’s asleep; he always sleeps after breakfast.”
Well, the ogre had his breakfast, and after that he was asleep. Then Jack crept out from his oven, and while he was passing the ogre, he took one of the bags of gold under his arm and ran to the beanstalk. And then he threw down the bag of gold, which of course fell in to his mother’s garden. And then he climbed down and climbed down till at last he got home and told his mother and showed her the gold and said, “Well, mother, I was right about the beans. They are really magical, you see.”
So they lived on the bag of gold for some time. But at last the gold came to an end, so Jack decided to use the beanstalk again. So one fine morning he got up early and went to the beanstalk, and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till at last he got on the road again and came to the great big tall house. There was the great big tall woman.
“Good morning,” says Jack, “could you give me something to eat?”
“Go away, my boy,” said the big tall woman, “or my husband will eat you for breakfast. But aren’t you the boy who came here before? My husband lost one of his bags of gold that day.”
“That’s strange,” says Jack, “I can tell you something about that, but I’m so hungry I can’t speak.”
The big tall woman was very curious, and she gave him something to eat. But soon he heard thump! thump! thump!