One day Jack's mother said: "Jack, the rent must be paid this week or else we shall be put out of doors; and you know that there is not a cent in the house. You must drive the cow to town and sell her for as much as you can get."

So Jack tied a rope to one of the cow's horns, and set out to drive her to the town. He had not gone far when he met a man with a red face and sharp gray eyes.

"My boy, whose cow is that?" said the man.

"She is my mother's cow," said Jack; "and I am driving her to town to sell her."

"Ah!" said the man, "and how much will you take for her?"

"As much as I can get," said Jack.

Then the man showed him five beans, and said: "I will give you these beans for your cow."

Jack had never seen such beans. One was white, one was red, one was blue, one was brown, and one was black. He looked at them a long time and thought how nice it would be to take them home and show them to his mother. As to how they could help her pay the rent, he did not think of that.

"All right!" he said to the man at last. "You may have the cow."

Then with the five beans in his hand he ran back home as fast as he could go.

"Are you back so soon, Jack?" said his mother. "How much did you get for the old cow?"

"Guess," said Jack.

"Five dollars?" said his mother.

"Guess again," said Jack.

"Six dollars?" said his mother.

"More than that," said Jack; "guess again."

"Oh, tell me! I cannot guess," said his mother. "Well then, what do you think?" said Jack. "I met a man on the road, and he gave me these five beans for the old cow;" and he showed them to his mother.

Oh, how vexed she was! She could have cried, if that would have done any good.

"Ah, Jack, Jack, Jack!" she said. "What have you done? Have you gone and sold our cow for five beans?" Then she snatched them from his hand and threw them out of the window. "Now, you good-for-naught," she screamed, "take that—and that—and that—and that! And now, up to bed with you! You shall not have a bite to eat this night; and don't let me hear a word from you."

Jack sobbed as he climbed up to his little room. Then he crept into his bed and sobbed and sobbed till he went to sleep.

When he woke up it was some time before he could think where he was. He knew that it was day, and that he ought to get up; for the sun was shining. But the light seemed to come into his room in streaks and spots, and not in one broad glare of brightness as it used to do.

He jumped out of bed and dressed himself quickly, for he wanted to see what was the matter. He knew that the sun was up high, yet it did not seem to be late. Ah, what were those green leaves that he saw in front of the window? There had never been anything of the kind there before. He ran to the window to look at them. They were the leaves of a beanstalk. The five beans which his mother had thrown out had sprouted and grown into the biggest beanstalk that anybody ever saw. It was so tall that Jack could not see the top of it; it went up and up and up, to the very sky. Who wouldn't give a cow for beans that would make such a stalk as that?

The beanstalk was so close to Jack's window that he stepped out among its branches; and then, since it looked so much like a ladder, he began to climb. He climbed and climbed and climbed, and climbed, till at last he was in the sky. His mother's house looked like a tiny speck away down below him, but he did not want to go home till he had seen what kind of a place he had climbed up to.

There was a broad, smooth road running straight from the top of the beanstalk, and he thought he would walk out a little way and see where it led. He had not gone far when he came to a big tall house, with green blinds at the window. A big tall woman with red hair stood on the steps.

"You'd better go back," she said; but Jack did not hear her.

"Good-morning, ma'am," he said. "I have come a long way, and I am very tired. Will you be so kind as to give me a bite to eat, and let me rest in your house a little while?"

"You'd better go back," said the big tall woman. "This is no place for boys like you. For don't you know that my man is a giant? And are you not afraid that he will eat you up if he finds you? You'd better go back!"

"But I am so tired," said Jack, "that I can't go till I have had a bite to eat."

The big tall woman was not half so bad as you might think, for she had a kind heart. She took Jack into the kitchen, and gave him all the bread and cheese that he could eat. He was just eating the last mouthful when he heard a great noise in the hallway—thump! thump! thump! thump!

"Ah, there comes my man, now!" cried the woman. "Get in here, quick! for he might eat you up if he should find you."

She opened the oven door, and pushed Jack inside, where he would be out of sight. And she was just in time, for the giant came into the room the very next minute—thump! thump! thump! thump!

He was a very large man and very tall. His foot was half as big as Jack's whole body, and he looked so fierce that Jack trembled in the oven.

"Here, wife!" he growled, "broil a leg of this beast for my breakfast; and be quick about it!" and he threw a fat calf upon the table. Then he went thumping round the room, and looking very cross and fierce. At last he stopped right in front of the oven, and cried out: "What's this I smell? What's this I smell?

"Don't be so foolish," said his wife. "It's only the blood of the calf! See, your hands are red with it! Go out and wash them, and make yourself clean and tidy for breakfast, while I set the table for you."

So off the giant went—thump! thump! thump! thump!—to the well at the back of the house. There was a great tub of water there, and he was soon busy washing his hands and combing his long hair. Jack thought that this would be a good time to slip out of the oven and run away. But the big tall woman told him to keep still.

"Wait till after my man has eaten his breakfast," she said. "He will go to sleep in his chair, and then you can run away."