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Jack and The Bean Stalk
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"Jack, we're going to have to sell the cow to pay for the house." Jacks mother told him. "I'm afraid she's run dry."
"How can this be!" he yelled and ran out. His mother sat down and place her head in her hands. They were deeply poor, they lived in a small house which was always needing repairs. Unfortunatly Jack's father died and he was to take his place and do his work.
Jack headed into town to sell thier cow, but nobody would buy her. Jack led the cow over to the grassy hill where he sat down. He placed his head in his arms, shaking his head and quietly crying.
"What is mother to say if I come back with the cow?" he said to himself. Over the hill he saw a head. It was moving toward him. Then the body came into view. He saw an old decrepit witch with a dirty sad girl on chains. The girl had no shoes and her feet looked blistered. She was pretty and young like him and he felt sorry for her.
"What ya got ther'" said the witch. The girl looked to the ground. "Ye be sellin' her?"
"Yes! I'm selling her, would you be interested in buying her from me?" Jack said excitedly.
"I have no money on me, would ya be willing to do a trade?" she said. "And no ya cannot have me girly here. She's too important. What I do have is these beans." she held out a handful of large reddish beans.
"I'm no fool, I wouldn't trade a cow for some measely beans." Said Jack.
"Oh, these aint just beans, they're magic beans!"
"Magic, yeah right. If there was an ounce of magic in the world maybe my mom and I wouldn't in this position." He snapped.
"Jack, I understand your situation, these beans can give you all the riches in the world." she said.
"How did you know my..."
"Trust me lad, take the beans." she said pushing them toward him.
"Uhh..." he stared at the beans, they were calling to him. "Alright." he said. "Take good care of Milky White." He handed her the lead rope to the cow and she smiled with a mouth of rotted and missing teeth, he grimmaced.
"Come my dears." The witch said yanking at the young girls chains and pulling Milky White. Jack stared at the girl. She seemed weak. He thought he had to do something, but he didn't know what the witch was capable of and he needed to be around to support his mother. He rushed home to show his mother the beans.
"Jack! Your back, what did you bring?" she asked.
"Mother, I traded the cow for these beans." He said.
"Beans! Jack you were cheated! How could you be so thoughtless, a cow for beans? Why would you accept that?" she lectured.
"Mother, these arent just ordinary beans, they're, magic." he said.
"Magic? You're too old to believe in magic." she said knocking the beans out of his hand and onto the ground.
"But mother, the witch gave them to me!"
"Then by all means they're probably cursed."
"She knew my name, and all about us." Jack defended.
"Off to bed." she said angrily. "No supper."
Jack irately went to bed and dreamed of the girl who had been with the witch. He felt sorry for not trying to help her. He had nis own problems to worry about though. Jack awoke in the middle of the night, his house was rumbling. He lookde outside and saw a huge bean stalk arising from the ground. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Mom!" He called. She came running out. "Look, I told you them beans were magic!"
"Oh my sweet heavens." she murmured.
"Im going up." Jack stated.
"Are you sure that is such a good idea?" his mother protested.
"Yes, it is. If I don't come back, I want you to know that I love you." He said and began to climb. When Jack was high enough that he couldn't see his mother anymore, he was cut by one of the large thorns, it began to bleed. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and tied it around his hand and continued climbing. 12 minutes had passed and he was still climbing. It was difficult to climb using his injured hand but eventually he reached the top. The surface was rock and there were clouds surrounding. There was tall grass in some areas. He saw a gargantuous castle. It was old looking, it had pointed rooves, stained glass windows, and large double doors. It looked evil ,but anyone who lives in a castle has to be rich. As Jack aproached the castle he realized it was much bigger than he thought. The door was about 20 times his size. He entered the castle and looked around. The floor was marble, and everything was much bigger than he. There was a harp playing and Jack followed the sound. He came to a large room filled with houses. He saw a golden harp, playing itself. Then came the sound of crying. He followed that sound too. It was coming from one of the model houses. He climbed up the chair then the table and entered the house. There was a girl in the corner with some big stuffed animals. She sat in a fetal position. Her toes were bloody. She was shaking. Her makeup smeared all down her face from crying.
"You better leave before he get you too." she mumbled.
"What are talking about?" Jack asked.
"The Ogre. He'll bite your head off." said the girl. Jack winced. "Afterall, he cut off my toes." Jack gasped. "Get out while you can." she warned, but Jack remained. "Think I'm making it up, he's done that before. Last person who climbed up his bean stalk."
"Whats your name?" Jack asked.
"Weren't you listening to me? You're in danger. Dan-ger. D-A-N-G-E-R."
"I'm Jack." he said.
"If you insist, I'm Alina."
"Alina..."
"Yeah. Now seriously you gotta get out of here, if he comes back he'll probably kill us both!" Then the shaking began. "He's coming! Hide!" she exclaimed.
"I smell the blood of a human!" Growled the deep voice of he ogre.The harp music drastially changed from peaceful, to tragic. Jack under the little table. The ogre reached in and pulled out Alina. "Alina," he growned. "Who else is here?" he asked.
"Why, nobody, just me as always."she said innocently. The ogre roared.
"I dont believe you!" He began shaking her.
"I swear, I swear!" Jack made his way to the back of the little house and found a window and began to climb out. The ogre hada dog and the dog had smelled Jack. The dog ran around the back of the table where Jack had jump from the tiny window. The ogre dropped Alina and walked around the table. Jack hid behind the leg of the table. Alina fell on the carpeted floor twistig her ankle. She criedout in pain.
"Who goes there?" THe angry ogre yelled. The dog picked Jackup by the collar of his shirt and he yelled. The ogre grabbed Jack and took him away. He took him into the kitchen and put him on he counter then put a cup over him, resembling a cage. Jack banged on the sides of the cup and yelled out for help but it was no use. The ogre put a pot on the stove and started boiling the water.
Alina felt she had to help him. She limped into the kitchen and made her way over to the counter. The ogres dog spotted Alina and came running over and started barking. The ogre turned and knocked over the cup. Jacked escaped and made a distraction for the dog so Alina could get away. The ogre went after Jack and him and Alina took off in defferent directions. Jack ran into a room in which a goose was laying on a bed on a little pillow, and next to it was something. It was round and gold. Jack got closer and realized it was a golden egg. He climbed onto the bed took the egg and ran out. The ogre ran in after he left and yelled "MY EGG!" and then he was stomping, shaking the ground immensly. Jack fell several times, trying not to break the egg. Jack and Alina found each other back in the room with the little houses. They went inside one of them and sat.
"What happened to your hand?" she asked.
Jack unwrapped the cloth and said "I cut it on a thorn while climbing up here." he showed her the cut.
"Thats infected." she said. He looked at it. The cut was red and bubbly and swollen and disgusting.
"We need to fix that," she said. "Come with me."
"Isn't that risky, he could catch us."
"Those arent ordinary thorns, they're poisonous. They could kill you." She said.
"Oh..." Alina sneakily lead him to the bathroom and grabbed a towell and soaked it in the toilet water.
"Ew! Thats gross." Jack said.
"Yeah, but if we turned on the sink the ogre would hear it." she led him over to the fire place which had a fire inside it. "Put your hand in the fire." she ordered.
"What?"
"Just do it, only for a second."
Jack put his hand in the fire and took it out. Alina wrapped the cloth around it, relieving the pain.
"Thats what you have to do to get rid of the poison from the thorns." She told him.
"Thanks." Jack said, then he noticed something. Inside the fire, white, hard things, some were round, some were long and thin. Human bones. In the fire place. Jack let out a small scream, then Alina took him and they started to run away. The ogre heard his yell and came out. They made it outside and to the bean stalk, the ogre chased them outside. The ogre casted a shadow that reached out over Jack. Alina and Jack began climbing down the bean stalk as fast as they could. The ogre couldn't climb so he started staking the vine. Alina and Jack held on for their lives as the bean stalk was shaken. Alina let go and Jack reached out and grabbed her hand and she flew through the air. He pulled her back up and the slid down the vine and finally made it to the bottom. The ogre was gone and out of sight.
"Mother!" Jack called. He went inside the house and found her sitting at the table head down. He touched her. She was cold. Dead. Then he felt something soaking his shirt. The golden egg had cracked open releasing a yellow metallic mucus like substance.
Overall he lost his mother and all the trouble he'd been through and the pain he'd caused for him and Alina was all for nothing, he had no riches, no family, no cow, no money. At least he had Alina. They got married and rebuilt the tiny house. They lived the same life that Jack had known, only they stayed away from witches and beans and beanstalks.
 poptart_princess11 · Sat Oct 16, 2010 @ 05:03am · 0 Comments |
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