The Red Fairy Book - Andrew Lang (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many

tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that

it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.

 

`The lady yielded to this reasoning, and consented to remain at

her nurse’s house as the best place of concealment; for the servant

told her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, he would

kill both her and her baby. Years rolled on. The old nurse died,

leaving her cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to

her poor lady, who dwelt in it, working as a peasant for her daily

bread. Her spinning-wheel and the milk of a cow, which she had

purchased with the little money she had with her, sufficed for the

scanty subsistence of herself and her little son. There was a nice

little garden attached to the cottage, in which they cultivated peas,

beans, and cabbages, and the lady was not ashamed to go out at

harvest time, and glean in the fields to supply her little son’s wants.

 

`Jack, that poor lady is your mother. This castle was once your

father’s, and must again be yours.’

 

Jack uttered a cry of surprise.

 

`My mother! oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor

father! My dear mother!’

 

`Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But

the task is a very difficult one, and full of peril, Jack. Have you

courage to undertake it?’

 

`I fear nothing when I am doing right,’ said Jack.

 

`Then,’ said the lady in the red cap, `you are one of those who

slay giants. You must get into the castle, and if possible possess

yourself of a hen that lays golden eggs, and a harp that talks.

Remember, all the giant possesses is really yours.’ As she ceased

speaking, the lady of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course

Jack knew she was a fairy.

 

Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he

advanced, and blew the horn which hung at the castle portal. The

door was opened in a minute or two by a frightful giantess, with

one great eye in the middle of her forehead.

 

As soon as Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught

him, and dragged him into the castle.

 

`Ho, ho!’ she laughed terribly. `You didn’t expect to see me

here, that is clear! No, I shan’t let you go again. I am weary of

my life. I am so overworked, and I don’t see why I should not

have a page as well as other ladies. And you shall be my boy. You

shall clean the knives, and black the boots, and make the fires, and

help me generally when the giant is out. When he is at home I

must hide you, for he has eaten up all my pages hitherto, and you

would be a dainty morsel, my little lad.’

 

While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The

poor boy was very much frightened, as I am sure you and I

would have been in his place. But he remembered that fear

disgraces a man; so he struggled to be brave and make the best of

things.

 

`I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you,

madam,’ he said, `only I beg you will be good enough to hide me

from your husband, for I should not like to be eaten at all.’

 

`That’s a good boy,’ said the Giantess, nodding her head; `it is

lucky for you that you did not scream out when you saw me, as

the other boys who have been here did, for if you had done so my

husband would have awakened and have eaten you, as he did them,

for breakfast. Come here, child; go into my wardrobe: he never

ventures to open THAT; you will be safe there.’

 

And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall,

and shut him into it. But the keyhole was so large that it admitted plenty of air, and he could see everything that took place

through it. By-and-by he heard a heavy tramp on the stairs, like

the lumbering along of a great cannon, and then a voice like thunder

cried out;

 

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,

I smell the breath of an Englishman.

Let him be alive or let him be dead,

I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’

 

`Wife,’ cried the Giant, `there is a man in the castle. Let me

have him for breakfast.’

 

`You are grown old and stupid,’ cried the lady in her loud

tones. `It is only a nice fresh steak off an elephant, that I have

cooked for you, which you smell. There, sit down and make a

good breakfast.’

 

And she placed a huge dish before him of savoury steaming

meat, which greatly pleased him, and made him forget his idea of

an Englishman being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he

went out for a walk; and then the Giantess opened the door, and

made Jack come out to help her. He helped her all day. She

fed him well, and when evening came put him back in the wardrobe.

 

THE HEN THAT LAYS GOLDEN EGGS.

 

The Giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the

keyhole, and was amazed to see him pick a wolf’s bone, and put

half a fowl at a time into his capacious mouth.

 

When the supper was ended he bade his wife bring him his hen

that laid the golden eggs.

 

`It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that paltry knight,’

he said; `indeed I think the eggs are heavier than ever.’

 

The Giantess went away, and soon returned with a little brown

hen, which she placed on the table before her husband. `And now,

my dear,’ she said, `I am going for a walk, if you don’t want me

any longer.’

 

`Go,’ said the Giant; `I shall be glad to have a nap by-and-by.’

 

Then he took up the brown hen and said to her:

 

`Lay!’ And she instantly laid a golden egg.

 

`Lay!’ said the Giant again. And she laid another.

 

`Lay!’ he repeated the third time. And again a golden egg lay

on the table.

 

Now Jack was sure this hen was that of which the fairy had

spoken.

 

By-and-by the Giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon

after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder.

 

Directly Jack perceived that the Giant was fast asleep, he

pushed open the door of the wardrobe and crept out; very softly he

stole across the room, and, picking up the hen, made haste to quit

the apartment. He knew the way to the kitchen, the door of

which he found was left ajar; he opened it, shut and locked it after

him, and flew back to the Beanstalk, which he descended as fast

as his feet would move.

 

When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for

she had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the

Giant had found him. But Jack put the brown hen down before

her, and told her how he had been in the Giant’s castle, and all his

adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would make

them rich once more.

 

THE MONEY BAGS.

 

Jack made another journey up the Beanstalk to the Giant’s

castle one day while his mother had gone to market; but first

he dyed his hair and disguised himself. The old woman did not

know him again, and dragged him in as she had done before, to

help her to do the work; but she heard her husband coming, and hid

him in the wardrobe, not thinking that it was the same boy who had

stolen the hen. She bade him stay quite still there, or the Giant

would eat him.

 

Then the Giant came in saying:

 

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,

I smell the breath of an Englishman.

Let him be alive or let him be dead,

I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’

 

`Nonsense!’ said the wife, `it is only a roasted bullock that I

thought would be a tit-bit for your supper; sit down and I will

bring it up at once.’ The Giant sat down, and soon his wife

brought up a roasted bullock on a large dish, and they began their

supper. Jack was amazed to see them pick the bones of the bullock

as if it had been a lark. As soon as they had finished their

meal, the Giantess rose and said:

 

`Now, my dear, with your leave I am going up to my room to

finish the story I am reading. If you want me call for me.’

 

`First,’ answered the Giant, `bring me my money bags, that I

may count my golden pieces before I sleep.’ The Giantess obeyed.

She went and soon returned with two large bags over her shoulders,

which she put down by her husband.

 

`There,’ she said; `that is all that is left of the knight’s money.

When you have spent it you must go and take another baron’s

castle.’

 

`That he shan’t, if I can help it,’ thought Jack.

 

The Giant, when his wife was gone, took out heaps and heaps of

golden pieces, and counted them, and put them in piles, till he was

tired of the amusement. Then he swept them all back into their

bags, and leaning back in his chair fell fast asleep, snoring so loud

that no other sound was audible.

 

Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags of

money (which were his very own, because the Giant had stolen

them from his father), he ran off, and with great difficulty descending

the Beanstalk, laid the bags of gold on his mother’s table. She

had just returned from town, and was crying at not finding Jack.

 

`There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father

lost.’

 

`Oh, Jack! you are a very good boy, but I wish you would not

risk your precious life in the Giant’s castle. Tell me how you

came to go there again.’

 

And Jack told her all about it.

 

Jack’s mother was very glad to get the money, but she did not

like him to run any risk for her.

 

But after a time Jack made up his mind to go again to the

Giant’s castle.

 

THE TALKING HARP.

 

So he climbed the Beanstalk once more, and blew the horn at

the Giant’s gate. The Giantess soon opened the door; she was

very stupid, and did not know him again, but she stopped a minute

before she took him in. She feared another robbery; but Jack’s

fresh face looked so innocent that she could not resist him, and so

she bade him come in, and again hid him away in the wardrobe.

 

By-and-by the Giant came home, and as soon as he had crossed

the threshold he roared out:

 

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,

I smell the breath of an Englishman.

Let him be alive or let him be dead,

I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’

 

`You stupid old Giant,’ said his wife, `you only smell a nice

sheep, which I have grilled for your dinner.’

 

And the Giant sat down, and his wife brought up a whole sheep

for his dinner. When he had eaten it all up, he said:

 

`Now bring me my harp, and I