Full transcript
0:00Jack and the Beanstalk
0:04(A version of the tale by TheFableCottage.com)
0:09Once there was a young man named Jack.
0:13He lived with his mother on a small farm at the foot of the Foggy Mountains.
0:21Jack and his mother were very poor.
0:24Their only way of making money was selling the milk from their cow, Bess.
0:30One morning, Jack's mother woke him up early.
0:35It was still dark outside.
0:37She was crying.
0:39"Jack, wake up!
0:42Go to the market today and sell our cow, Bess."
0:48"But why?" asked Jack, yawning.
0:53"We need money to fix our house.
0:56There are holes in the roof.
0:58The windows are broken.
1:01For heaven's sake, we have no front door.
1:04Winter is coming soon.
1:06If we don't fix the house, the cold will kill us!"
1:13Jack packed his bag and fetched Bess from the barn.
1:18As he was walking out the gate, he heard his mother shout:
1:22"She is worth at least five gold coins!
1:26Don’t sell her for less!"
1:30When Jack was half way to the market, he met an old man.
1:36"Good morning, my boy!" said the old man.
1:40"Where are you going today?"
1:43"Good morning, sir," replied Jack.
1:46"I'm going to the market to sell my cow.
1:49Her name is Bess."
1:52"She is a beautiful cow," said the man.
1:56"I will buy Bess, and I will give you a very good deal!"
2:02“How much will you pay for her?
2:04I won’t take less than five gold coins!” said Jack.
2:08“I don't have five gold coins," whispered the man.
2:12"But I have these five black beans!
2:18These beans are magic beans! They are worth more than gold!
2:25If you take these beans, you will be richer than the richest man in the world.”
2:33Jack thought about his mother.
2:35He thought about how happy she would be if they were rich.
2:39They could fix the roof, the windows, and the front door.
2:44Maybe they could buy a new cow!
2:47“Okay," said Jack. "You’ve got a deal. Give me the beans!"
2:55Jack was very excited.
2:58He ran home and showed his mother the beans.
3:01But instead of being happy, she was furious.
3:06“You foolish boy! You traded our only cow for a handful of beans?!”
3:14She took the beans and threw them out the window.
3:18Then she sat down beside the fire and cried.
3:25Jack was devastated.
3:28He shut himself in his bedroom.
3:30He felt so stupid.
3:33They no longer had a cow, and now they were poorer than before.
3:39What a disaster!
3:41And it was his fault!
3:51The next morning when Jack opened the curtains, he saw something very strange.
3:58In the same place where his mother had thrown the beans,
4:02there was a giant, green beanstalk.
4:06It stretched from the ground, up, up, up… all the way to the clouds.
4:14“The beans really are magic!” whispered Jack.
4:18"The old man was telling the truth!"
4:23Jack's mother was still asleep,
4:26so Jack decided to climb the beanstalk to look for the riches the old man had described.
4:33"Just five gold coins," thought Jack.
4:37That's all I need to make my mother happy."
4:40Jack climbed up, up, up, higher and higher into the clouds.
4:46When he reached the top, he was very hungry.
4:50He saw a castle in the distance.
4:54"Maybe I can find something to eat in that castle…" he thought.
4:59Jack walked up to the door of the castle and knocked twice.
5:04Knock knock!
5:06A giantess opened the door.
5:09She was as big as a house,
5:12but she had a warm smile and gentle eyes.
5:16"Excuse me, Mrs. Giant," said Jack.
5:20"Could you please give me something to eat? I am so hungry!"
5:26"Oh you poor boy!" said the giantess.
5:30She could see that Jack was very thin.
5:33"Of course! Come in! Come in!"
5:36The kind giantess gave Jack some vegetable stew.
5:41He was enjoying it so much that he didn't notice when the kitchen table started to shake.
5:49Stomp... Stomp... Stomp… Loud footsteps echoed down the hallway.
5:56"Oh dear," whispered the giantess.
5:59"That is my husband! He is home from work!
6:03He doesn't like humans! Quick! Hide!"
6:09Jack hid in the pantry.
6:13The giant stomped into the kitchen and sniffed the air.
6:18"FEE FI FO FUM! ...
6:24Hello my beautiful wife!
6:28Wait! Do I smell a human man?
6:31YUCK! WHERE IS HE?"
6:34"Good evening, my darling husband," replied the giantess.
6:39"There is nobody here.
6:41You smell the vegetable stew, nothing more."
6:45"Good," grunted the giant.
6:48"I hate humans."
6:51He sat down at the table in the kitchen.
6:54The giant took out a small sack of gold coins out of his pocket and counted them.
7:00One... two... three... four... five gold coins.
7:06Jack watched from inside the pantry.
7:10"Five gold coins!" thought Jack.
7:14"If I had that money, I could fix our house!"
7:19When the two giants left the room,
7:21Jack stole the five gold coins and slipped them into his bag.
7:26"This is all I need!" thought Jack.
7:30But then Jack remembered that his family no longer had a cow.
7:35Without a cow, they would surely starve.
7:39He decided to stay and look for other treasures.
7:44He followed the giant into the living room and hid under the couch.
7:49The giant went to the cupboard and pulled out a golden hen.
7:54“Hello, my beautiful hen!
7:57Lay, please!" said the giant, and the hen laid a golden egg.
8:06Jack watched from under the couch.
8:09"A hen that lays golden eggs!" whispered Jack.
8:14"If I had that hen, I could buy FIFTY cows!"
8:18When the giant left the room, Jack crawled out from under the couch.
8:23He went to the cupboard, took the hen, and put it in his bag.
8:27"This is all I need… " thought Jack.
8:32But then Jack thought about what the old man had promised.
8:37Jack imagined being richer than the richest man in the world.
8:42He decided to see what other treasures he could find.
8:47He followed the giant into the bedroom, and hid under the bed.
8:52There was a golden harp standing in a corner of the room.
8:57"Hello, my beautiful harp. Play, please!" said the giant.
9:04The harp began playing music with no one touching the strings.
9:13"Wow! A magic harp!" whispered Jack.
9:19"That harp would make me rich and famous!"
9:24When the giant fell asleep, Jack crawled out from under the bed.
9:29He took the magic harp and put it in his bag.
9:33But this time Jack was less lucky.
9:37The magic harp screamed,
9:39“Help me, master! A human is stealing me!”
9:44The giant woke up and saw Jack with the magic harp,
9:48the golden hen, and his gold coins.
9:52"STOP, THIEF!"
9:55The giant chased Jack —
9:57— out of the bedroom, down the hallway, through the kitchen, and out the front door.
10:03But Jack was smaller and faster than the giant.
10:07Jack reached the beanstalk first and slid down.
10:12He arrived at the ground with all his treasures.
10:16The giant reached the top of the beanstalk and looked down.
10:20He was afraid of heights.
10:23He slowly climbed down.
10:26"BE CAREFUL, MY HUSBAND!" shouted the giantess from the castle.
10:32"HUMANS CAN BE DANGEROUS!"
10:36Jack saw the giant coming down the beanstalk.
10:39So he ran into his house and grabbed an axe.
10:43He chopped the beanstalk. Whack! Whack! Whack!
10:48Suddenly, the beanstalk snapped.
10:52The giant came tumbling down from the sky.
10:57He fell down, down, down, and landed far away, on the other side of the Foggy Mountains.
11:05Thud!
11:08For a moment everything was silent.
11:12Then Jack heard a strange sound from far away.
11:17"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!"
11:23It was the giant.
11:26The beanstalk had fallen,
11:28and now he had no way to get back up to his castle in the clouds.
11:33The giant yelled so loudly that the clouds shook and turned gray.
11:40Then somewhere up in the sky, Jack heard Mrs. Giant start to cry.
11:46Her tears fell through the clouds in tiny drops and soaked the earth.
11:56After that, Jack and his mother lived a very comfortable life.
12:01The golden hen made a Jack a millionaire.
12:04The magic harp made him famous.
12:07Jack married a rich and famous woman and together they had ten children.
12:13But Jack was never truly happy.
12:17Every time the wind blew,
12:19Jack heard the giant calling for his wife.
12:23And every time it rained,
12:25he felt the giant-wife's tears falling on him.
12:29Jack felt sad and guilty.
12:33One day, when Jack was very old,
12:36he decided that he didn't want to be sad any more.
12:40He opened a box on his mantelpiece and pulled out one last shrivelled magic bean.
12:47If he could find the giant, he could grow another beanstalk.
12:51Then the giant could climb back up to his castle in the clouds.
12:56If he could find the giant, he could also apologize for being so greedy.
13:02Jack packed his bag and walked into the Misty Mountains.
13:11Did Jack find the giant?
13:13Did he grow a new beanstalk with the last magic bean?
13:18Nobody knows.
13:20But people say, if you listen closely during a thunderstorm,
13:25you can hear the rumbling sound of two giants dancing together in the clouds.