THE GIANT BREAKS HIS NECK

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #540, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

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Jack’s mother shrank back, and it was well she did so, for just as the
Giant took hold of the last branch of the Beanstalk, Jack cut the stem quite
through and darted from the spot.

Down came the Giant with a terrible crash, and as he fell on his head, he broke
his neck, and lay dead at the feet of the woman he had so much injured.

Before Jack and his mother had recovered from their alarm and agitation, a
beautiful lady stood before them.

‘Jack,’ said she, ‘you have acted like a brave knight’s
son, and deserve to have your inheritance restored to you. Dig a grave and bury
the Giant, and then go and kill the Giantess.’

‘But,’ said Jack, ‘I could not kill anyone unless I were
fighting with him; and I could not draw my sword upon a woman. Moreover, the
Giantess was very kind to me.’

The Fairy smiled on Jack.

‘I am very much pleased with your generous feeling,’ she said.
‘Nevertheless, return to the castle, and act as you will find
needful.’

Jack asked the Fairy if she would show him the way to the castle, as the
Beanstalk was now down. She told him that she would drive him there in her
chariot, which was drawn by two peacocks. Jack thanked her, and sat down in the
chariot with her.

The Fairy drove him a long distance round, till they reached a village which
lay at the bottom of the hill. Here they found a number of miserable-looking
men assembled. The Fairy stopped her carriage and addressed them:

‘My friends,’ said she, ‘the cruel giant who oppressed you
and ate up all your flocks and herds is dead, and this young gentleman was the
means of your being delivered from him, and is the son of your kind old master,
the knight.’

The men gave a loud cheer at these words, and pressed forward to say that they
would serve Jack as faithfully as they had served his father. The Fairy bade
them follow her to the castle, and they marched thither in a body, and Jack
blew the horn and demanded admittance.

The old Giantess saw them coming from the turret loop-hole. She was very much
frightened, for she guessed that something had happened to her husband; and as
she came downstairs very fast she caught her foot in her dress, and fell from
the top to the bottom and broke her neck.

When the people outside found that the door was not opened to them, they took
crowbars and forced the portal. Nobody was to be seen, but on leaving the hall
they found the body of the Giantess at the foot of the stairs.

Thus Jack took possession of the castle. The Fairy went and brought his mother
to him, with the hen and the harp. He had the Giantess buried, and endeavoured
as much as lay in his power to do right to those whom the Giant had robbed.

Before her departure for fairyland, the Fairy explained to Jack that she had
sent the butcher to meet him with the beans, in order to try what sort of lad
he was.

‘If you had looked at the gigantic Beanstalk and only stupidly wondered
about it,’ she said, ‘I should have left you where misfortune had
placed you, only restoring her cow to your mother. But you showed an inquiring
mind, and great courage and enterprise, therefore you deserve to rise; and when
you mounted the Beanstalk you climbed the Ladder of Fortune.’

She then took her leave of Jack and his mother.