JACK was a poor widow's heir, but he lived as a drone

in a beehive,

Hardly a handstir a day did he work. To squander her

earnings

Seem'd to the poor widow hard, who raved and scolded

him always.

Nought in her house was left; not a cheese, not a loaf,

not an onion;

Nought but a cow in her yard, and that must go to the

market.

"Sell me the cow," cried she; then he sold it, gad! for a

handful——

Only to think!———of beans. She shied them out thro'

the window,

Cursing him: hied to her bed, there slept, but awoke in

amazement,

Seeing a huge bean-stalk, many leaves, many pods, many

flowers,

Rise to the clouds more tall than a tall California pine-

tree;

High as a lark was Jack, scarce seen, and climbing away

there.

"Where an' O where," * he shrill'd; she beheld his boots

disappearing;

* "Where an' O where is my Highland laddie gone?"

Pod by pod Jack arose, till he came to a pod that alarm'd

him.

Bridge-like this long pod stretch'd out, and touch'd on an

island

Veil'd in vapour. A shape from the island waved him a

signal,

Waved with a shining hand, and Jack with an humble

obeisance

Crawl'd to the shape, who remark'd, "I gave those beans

to ye, darling.

I am a fairy, a friend to ye, Jack; see yonder a Giant

Lives, who slew your own good father, see what a fortress!

Enter it, have no fear, since I, your fairy, protect you."

Jack march'd up to the gate, in a moment pass'd to the

kitchen

Led by the savoury smell. This Giant's wife with a ladle

Basted a young elephant (Jack's namesake shriek'd and

turn'd it).

Back Jack shrank in alarm: with fat cheeks peony-bulbous,

Ladle in hand, she stood, and spake in a tone of amuse-

ment: .

"Oh! what a cramp'd-up, small, unsesquipedalian object!"

Then from afar came steps, heavy tramps, as a pavior

hamm'ring;

Out of her huge moon-cheeks the redundant peony faded,

Jack's lank hair she grabb'd, and, looking sad resolution,

Popt him aghast in among her saucepans' grimy recesses.

Then strode in, with a loud heavy-booted thunder of heel-

taps,

He with a tiger at heel—her Giant, swarthy, colossal:

"I smell flesh of a man; yea, wife, tho' he prove but a

morsel,

Man tastes good." She replied, "Sure thou be'est failing

in eyesight;

'Tis but a young elephant, my sweetest lord, not a biped."

Down he crook'd his monstrous knees, and rested his hip-

bones,

Call'd for his hen, said "Lay so she, with a chuck cock-

a-doodle,

Dropt him an egg, pure gold, a refulgent, luminous

oval,—

That was her use:—when he push'd her aside, cried,

"Bring me the meat now,"

Gorged his enormous meal, fell prone, and lost recollection.

Jack from a saucepan watch'd his broad chest's monstrous

upheavals:

Then to the chamber above both dame and tiger ascended.

"Now for it, hist!" says Jack—"coast clear, and none to

behold me,"

Airily Jack stole forth, and seized the plump, money-

laying,

Priceless, mystical hen; ran forth, sped away to the bean-

stalk,

Heard from afar, then near, heavy tramps, as a pavior

hamm'ring,

Sprang down pod by pod, with a bounding, grasshopper

action,

Left the Colossus aghast at an edge of his own little

island,

Lighted on earth, whom she, that bare him, fondly

saluting,

Dropt a maternal tear, and dried that tear with her

apron,

Seeing him home and safe; and after it, all was a hey-day,

Lots of loaves, and tons of cheeses, a barnful of onions;

Cows and calves, and creams, and gold eggs piled to the

ceilings:

Horses, goats, and geese, and pigs, and pugs by the

hundred.

Ah! but he found in a while his life of laziness irk-

some.

"Climb me," the bean-stalk said with a whisper. Jack,

reascending,

Swarm'd to the wonderful isle once more, and high

habitation;

Led by the fairy return'd to the fortress, pass'd to the

kitchen,

Unseen, hied him again to the saucepans' grimy recesses,

Peep'd out into the room. The plump wife, peony-

bulbous,

Toasted a constrictor, which roll'd in vast revolutions.

Then strode in, strong-booted again, with a roar, the

Colossus:

Call'd for his harp, said "Play." So this, with a sharp

treble ting-tong,

Play'd him an air, a delightful, long-drawn, national

anthem,

Play'd him an air, untouch'd, (the strings, by a fairy

magician

Wrought, were alive). Then he shouted aloud, "Wife,

bring me the meat now,"

Gorged his elongate meal; the snake in warm revolutions,

Making his huge bulk swell, disappear'd like Man's

macaroni:

After, he yawn'd and snored, fell prone, and lost recol-

lection.

So Jack seized the melodious harp, and bolted. A

murmur

"Master, master, a rascal, a rascal!" rang thro' the harp-

strings.

Quickly the monster awoke, and wielding a cudgel,—

an oak tree,—

Chased little Jack with a shout of mighty, maniacal

anger;

Jack to the beanpod sprang with a leap, and desperate

hurl'd his

Limbs in a downward, furious, headlong pre-cipitation,

But for a wink up-glanced; his foeman's ponderous

hob-nails

Shone from aloft: down crash'd big pods, and bean

avalanches.

"Haste mother, haste mother, oh! mother, haste, and

bring me the hatchet!"

Cried Jack, alighting on earth. She brought him an

axe double-handed.

Jack cleft clean thro' the haulm; that Giant desperate

hurl'd his.

Limbs in a downward, roaring, thund'ring pre-cipitation,

Crash'd to the ground stone-dead with a crash as a crag

from a mountain.

"I'm your master now," said Jack to the harp at his

elbow;

"There's your old 'un! of him pray give your candid

opinion!"

Sweetly the mystical harp responded, "Master, a rascal!"

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