The Mythology & Folklore Database
So one day Jack climbed a bean-pole to get up to the top of the hill. So, when he had got to the top, he saw a palace, an' he went to this place to see who lived there. So, when he had got there, he found it was a giant's castle, but the giant wasn't at home. But his wife was. Jack was tired and hungry. So he asked the lady to take him in and give him something to eat. So she did so. But she told him not to let her husband catch him there. So, while Jack was eating, the giant came to the door. She told Jack to hide, an' Jack hid in the chest behind the door. So the giant came in.
He said:
Fe, fi, fo, fum,He said:
I smell the blood of an Englishmune.
Be he alive or be he dead,But his wife told him that he didn't, that it was only some mutton that she was cooking. So the giant sat down to eat his supper; and after he had finished eating, he called to his wife, and told her to bring him the wonder-box, which he was supposed to have taken from Jack's father before Jack's father died. So, while the giant was sitting there looking in the box, he fell asleep. An' Jack slipped out of the chest behind the door, an' took the wonder-box home to his mother.
Fe, fi, fo, fum!
So it wasn't very long till Jack made up his mind to make another trip back to the castle of the giant. So, when Jack went back this time, he tried to put on like another poor little boy that was half starved. So he begged entrance at the door of the castle from the wife. And she didn't want to have him in, and she told him about the boy that had took the wonder-box from her husband. So he begged so hard that she left him in, an' she gave him some bread and milk to eat. And again, while Jack was eating, the giant came.
And as he came in the door, he said:
Fe, fi, fo, fum,He said:
I smell the blood of an Englishmune.
Be he alive or be he dead,And Jack jumped in the salt-cellar.
Fe, fi, fo, fum!
His wife said, "No, there hasn't been any one here today." She says, "I'm only roastin' some pork for your supper."
So, after he ate his supper, the giant sent for his golden hen that lay the golden egg. So his wife went and brought it for him. And while the giant was playing with the egg that the hen had laid, he fell fast asleep. An' Jack carried off the hen and the egg down the beanstalk to where his mother lived.
But Jack still thought that he wanted to visit the castle again. So this time, when he went up the beanstalk to the giant's castle, he was in the appearance of a newsboy selling papers. So, while the wife went to get the money to buy a paper, the giant appeared, and Jack hid in the closet.
And the giant repeated again:
Fe, fi, fo, fum,He said:
I smell the blood of an Englishmune.
Be he alive or be he dead,So the wife said, "No, there hasn't been any one here today."
Fe, fi, fo, fum!
And after the giant had ate his supper, he called for his harp, the only thing that he had left, an' this was a magic harp. So it commenced to play, an' it played so sweetly that the giant fell fast asleep and commenced to snore. And as the harp stopped playing, Jack came out of the closet, took the harp, and started to the door. But the harp began to play, and it woke the giant up. An' the giant followed Jack out of the door, an' Jack run as fast as he could down the beanstalk, an' the giant started to follow. But as the giant reached the top, Jack cut down the beanstalk with an axe; an' as the giant stepped on, he fell down an' broke his neck.
An' Jack and his mother always lived happy afterward with the property of the father which the giant had stolen an' Jack had restored again.