Jack And The Beanstalk (modified Version)

• Ann Thomas, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2013

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and his mother Amy were professional thieves who spent a lot of their lives using quick wits and nifty fingers to get what they wanted. They lived in the fairly large town of Lorenhowe.

One day while picking pockets in the village-green, Jack overheard two merchants talking about a goose that laid golden eggs. ‘I must have that goose’, Jack thought to himself. That night Jack went to an inn and enquired, ‘What do you know about the golden goose?’ ‘You mean the myth?’ asked the innkeeper. Without waiting for an answer he continued, ‘According to legend the goose lives in a castle above the clouds and is guarded by a fierce giant. The only way to get there is with magic beans, some of which are rumoured to be in the possession of Farmer Jones’. Jack quietly left.

The next day Jack told Amy, his mother, all about it. Together they made a plan. They waited till night fell and then quietly snuck over to Farmer Jones’s farm. Stealing the beans was a piece of cake because Farmer Jones was a heavy sleeper.

With no idea what to do, the two returned home. ‘We’ve got the beans, now what?’ Jack exclaimed impatiently. ‘Well, there should be something on magic beans in this book’, Amy replied, flicking through a book she had stolen earlier that day. All through the night Amy looked through the book.

The next morning Jack walked in. His mother was still reading. Suddenly Amy leapt up, ‘I found it!’ she cried out triumphantly. ‘Magic beans’, she read out, ‘are very rare and there are only eight in the world. To use them plant them in a large empty area’. Jack looked up with a glint in his eye. He knew the perfect place.

Two days later Jack and Amy were riding a stolen cart to a ghost town about 200 kilometers west of Lorenhowe, each spin of the wheel taking them closer and closer to the sea. Four hours later, a small village, standing on the edge of a cliff, came into view.

The two of them clambered out and looked around. ‘No signs of life as far as I can see’ Amy observed. ‘Okay lets get to work’, and with that Jack grabbed a shovel threw one to Amy and started walking towards a small patch of ground that was clear of any weeds. Three hours later Amy stood up panting, the circle they had dug was two meters long and two metres wide. ‘Perfect’ Jack said standing up and studying the hole. He bent down and carefully dropped four beans; there were four others somewhere in the world but right now nothing else mattered. Amy stepped forward and poured a cup of water on top of the beans, both of them started to back away. And right there in front of their eyes the beanstalk began to grow.

It grew and grew and grew till the top of the beanstalk disappeared into the clouds. And when the ground had stopped shaking, Amy and Jack walked up to the beanstalk. Without further delay the two began climbing the beanstalk, their arms and legs finding handholds in even the tiniest cracks and footholds in every nook and cranny.

The beanstalk was very tall and should’ve taken hours to climb but in less than five minutes Jack was hauling Amy onto the highest branch. At the top, Amy and Jack didn’t even have to look around to find the small wooden door set into the side of the beanstalk’s thick trunk. What did prove to be difficult was actually opening the door. The door had no doorknob and did not budge even though Jack had used all his strength to push. So for the sixth time Jack ran at the door with no success. He gave up and sat down leaning against a smaller branch. ‘My turn’, Amy announced, she stood up and walked to the door, letting her hands run over the smooth wood and then she felt it, the small circle of wood that was different to the rest of the door, she pressed it lightly and the door sprung open. Jack was already next to her helping her through the small door, before jumping in after her.

Jack and Amy stumbled out, looking up to see a street lined with colourful houses. There were salesmen driving carts, couples riding carriages and children playing hide-and-seek, but Amy and Jack could only stare astonished at the unexpected scene. Amy was the one who spoke up, ‘Where are we?’ Jack didn’t reply, instead he walked further down and Amy had to run to keep up. ‘There’s a whole city up here’, Jack exclaimed in wonder, ‘and…whoa’ Amy turned and followed her son’s gaze to the castle sitting on top of a hill, overlooking the city. It was magnificent with walls made of marble and windows lined with gold.

Half an hour later, mother and son had found a fancy inn to stay at and now all they needed was a plan. ‘What do we know abut the goose?’ Jack asked ‘Well we know that it lives in the castle and is guarded by a terrible giant and…well, that’s all we know…’ Amy trailed off ‘Okay’, Jack spoke, ‘so our plan is to mingle with the townsfolk and get more information on the golden goose. Meet back here at lunch’. The two walked down the stairs and parted ways at the main door.

‘Lets see what I can find’, Amy thought to herself as she made her way through the organized chaos. She caught sight of a merchant selling carpets, ‘Perfect! Merchants know everything’, and with that in mind Amy started walking towards the merchant. She took out a small pouch of money and threw it into the merchant’s lap, he waited patiently while she asked, ‘So…what do you know about the golden goose?’ the merchant sighed as if he’d heard this a hundred times, ‘The golden goose is King Robin’s most precious pet. By the way King Robin is a giant whose twenty-five feet tall. And Harp, who is his daughter, can sense it when someone tries to steal the golden goose.’ ‘Okay, so Harp might cause some trouble’ Amy said thoughtfully while the merchant continued to talk, ‘All castle entrances are guarded at all times and if you’re going to steal it there is a ball coming up next week, but if you cant wait there is also a secret entrance in the north-east wall of the castle. Is there anything else you need to know?’ ‘What does the entrance look like?’ Amy queried, ‘It looks like a wooden trapdoor, oh and I almost forgot you will need this to get in’, said the merchant handing her a small gold key.

It was just past noon and Jack was already waiting in the inn-room they had rented, when Amy got back. Jack had found out that the goose lived in a giant aviary at the top of the tallest tower. She told Jack everything that she had learnt, but forgot to mention Harp. Jack then headed off to get the equipment they needed for the heist. Amy knew it was up to her to come up with a plan; Jack had left it up to her to decide how they were going to steal the goose.

One hour after the sun had set, Amy had come up with a simple scheme which she then conveyed to Jack. The two of them would sneak in through the trap door, which led to the basement. From there all they had to do was find their way to the highest tower, which was the most guarded section in the whole castle. Then Amy would cause a distraction allowing Jack to run into the giant aviary, grab the goose and get away. Amy would then find a way to sneak past the guards and meet Jack; they would have the goose, become rich and live happily ever after.

That night Jack and Amy snuck into the castle and into the highest tower. Everything was going according to plan as Jack watched six guards pacing back and forth in front of the aviary, from behind a large marble fountain. When suddenly he saw his mother come running out into one of the guards, crying for help and pointing the other way. The guards stopped and followed her. Jack ran out of his hiding place and ducked into the aviary. He walked in, but did not expect the small girl with golden hair and golden eyes sitting on one of the many tree branches, staring at him. ‘Your not going to steal the goose, are you?’ she inquired. She did not look or sound scared at all but Jack did not have time to ponder this so he said, ‘if you could please just move out the wa-‘, but the girl interrupted Jack before he could finish ‘My name’s Harp, the king is my father’, ‘wait if the king is your father shouldn’t you be a giant’, Jack asked confused, ‘no silly, my father’s only a giant because an evil witch put a spell on him, besides giants are big and bad and my father would never hurt anybody’. Okay, so maybe the giant wasn’t as mean and nasty as they had been led to believe. Harp kept talking. This is my chance to sneak away thought Jack as he quietly walked to a small path. ‘You can take the goose if you want, I’m sure father wouldn’t mind, he is already very rich’, Jack froze, turned around and said ‘you are a very odd little girl’ ‘I know’ Harp replied, but did she not seem offended. ‘Well, while you’re still here you can help me catch the goose’, Jack said putting the girl to good use ‘oh, Maureen loves me, she comes whenever I call’, Harp then cupped her hands around her mouth and called out ‘Maureen, o Maureen’, and then the most magnificent goose Jack had ever seen came walking out of the shrubbery. Its snow-white coat had feathers edged with gold and it walked like it was the most precious thing in the room, which it was. Harp picked the goose -Maureen- up and gave it to Jack. He felt a pang of guilt as he took Maureen turned and walked back towards the entrance and out of the aviary. He would meet up with Amy at the fountain.

Meanwhile, Amy had distracted the guards and told them that she was a maid who had been working late, when she heard noises coming from the kitchen. After the guards had made sure there was nothing there, they led Amy back to the fountain and calmed her down. That was when, an extremely large man about twenty-five feet tall and 9 feet wide, walked into the room wearing nightclothes and asked ‘what is going on here’, then one of the guards spoke up and said ‘Your Highness, this maid heard noises coming from the kitchen and asked us to inquire’, ‘but what are you doing here so late?’ the giant wanted to know, ‘I was scrubbing floors and I got stuck in a room and when I finally got out, I heard a disturbance in the kitchen’, Amy replied quickly, ‘That’s alright’, now the giant’s voice sounded dangerous, ‘except you don’t work here because this castle doesn’t have any maids, it simply runs on magic’.

Jack watched everything from behind the fountain; he couldn’t let his mother get caught so he ran out and yelled, Stop, everybody turned to look at him. He put the goose down and said ‘I’m sorry for stealing your goose, but please don’t blame my mother’, then the giant king looked at Jack kindly and said, ‘that’s all I wanted to hear. Now because you have owned up I shall let you go’, ‘What?’ now Jack was really confused. The giant continued ‘I knew that you were going to steal the goose’, ‘how?’ Jack wanted to know. Right then Harp peeked out from behind her father and flashed Jack a cheeky grin while the king continued to explain, ‘the two of you did not seem like the bad type to me, so I made a decision to let you go if you ever owned up and returned the goose’, ‘Well we are really sorry and anyway it feels wrong stealing from such a nice person, all this time I thought you were going to be a fierce and mean giant’, Amy responded meaningfully but the giant wasn’t finished just yet, ‘It was nice meeting you Amy and Jack, I’m sorry I cannot giveaway the goose but you can still have two eggs each. The ball is next week but you can’t miss it so I shall pre-pone it to tomorrow night, you can stay with us till then’. Jack and Amy smiled gratefully at the giant and thanked him for his kindness.

The ball the next night was absolutely amazing and everybody was invited. Everyone wore colourful dresses and danced all night long. The variety of food was vast and interesting. Jack and Amy met many new people and made many new friends. All too soon the night was over and everybody had to go home, but Jack and Amy went to bed with happy thoughts and sweet dreams.

The next morning Jack and Amy did not want to say good-bye. They had grown very close to the giant, Harp and Maureen and didn’t want to leave. It was Harp who suggested the idea that brightened everybody’s day. ‘What if Amy and Jack live with us in the castle, we have plenty of space’. The, giant, king didn’t hesitate to answer, ‘what a marvelous idea, Harp’. And that was how Jack and Amy came to live with the giant in the castle above the clouds.


By Ann Thomas