Once, in a quiet village situated between beautiful hills and shadowed by a great forest, there lived a poor widow and her only son, Jack. Their cottage, humble and weather-beaten, stood at the edge of the village, with its garden overrun by weeds and the roof patched with straw. Their sole possession of value was an old cow named Bessie, whose milk had sustained them for years. But as time wore on, Bessie grew frail, her milk dwindling to almost nothing. The day came when the widow, despairing, told Jack they must sell the cow to survive.
“Take her to the market, but make sure you get a fair price. We can’t afford to be cheated,” she said one misty morning as her hands trembled, tying the rope around the cow’s neck.
Jack, who loved his mother dearly, vowed to return with money enough to ease their lives. Hence, he left, guiding Bessie along the dirt path towards the village market. On his way, he rehearsed how he would negotiate as a smart trader.
It was halfway to the market when Jack encountered a stranger sitting beneath an ancient tree. The man, cloaked in deep green with a beard flecked with silver, seemed harmless enough, yet there was a peculiar gleam in his eye.
“A fine cow,” the man said, standing and inspecting Bessie with exaggerated interest. “How much do you ask for her?”
Jack hesitated. “Enough to feed my mother and me for many weeks.”
The man stroked his beard thoughtfully, then reached into a small pouch at his waist. “I have no coins, but I’ll trade you these instead.” He opened his hand to reveal three beans, their surfaces glossy and black as polished obsidian.
Jack frowned. “Beans? What use are beans to us?”
“Ah,” said the man, leaning closer. “These are no ordinary beans, boy. You go and plant them in the soil by moonlight, and when you wake up, you will see their magic: they will bring you wealth beyond your wildest imaginations.”
As soon as Jack heard the promise of riches, he traded Bessie for the beans at once and hurried home to his mother.
When Jack handed over the beans to his mother, she gasped in disbelief, “You sold our only cow for this? You foolish boy! What magic could there be in such trifles?” In her frustration, she flung the beans out of the window, and tears of disappointment fell down her cheeks.
Jack felt ashamed, but curiosity gnawed at him as darkness fell and the house grew silent. And he crept outside to where the beans had landed. The spot of ground was glittering faintly in the moonlight, so Jack decided to wait and see if the stranger was speaking the truth.
And so he was because the next morning, Jack woke up to a startling sight: a beanstalk stood where the beans had landed. It was giant and twisting, the vines stretching beyond Jack’s sight into the clouds, and its leaves were like emeralds. Jack was stunned, and an idea sparked in his mind.
Despite his mother’s protests, Jack made up his mind to climb it.
“Mother, we have nothing to lose, but if this leads to a fortune, our lives will change altogether,” he said, tying his shoelaces.
The ascent was no easy feat, for it required strength and perseverance. But Jack was courageous, and he kept going till he reached the misty clouds that dampened his clothes and chilled his skin. Finally, he crossed the clouds and found himself on a plateau of a strange woodland. There was no sight of any giant’s castle, unlike old tales.
There, the air was cold, and the light dim. Moreover, the trees were high, like skyscrapers and had twisted branches laden with unique fruit. Some of it Jack had never seen or even heard of. Not only this, Jack couldn’t hear any birds chirping; however, there were eerie whispers and the faint crackle of unseen movement.
Now that Jack had reached the point of no return, he decided to venture deeper into the forest. Moving forth, he stumbled upon a small cabin: its chimney gave off smoke and the scent of roasting meat. Propelled by hunger, he felt himself attracted towards the source of the smell, ignoring the stories his mother had told him about strangers.
When he reached the cottage, he peeked through the window and saw a broad-shouldered man with a scarred and weathered face sitting on a table with a sack of gold coins in front of him. Beside it, there was a goose with dazzling white feathers. Jack’s mouth opened in amazement, and his eyes widened as he saw the bird lay a golden egg, which the man tucked into a treasure-filled chest.
“This is it,” Jack whispered to himself. “This will save us for sure!”
But then his sight fell on a massive bow and a set of arrows in the corner; the man was a hunter – a dangerous one. Could Jack risk being so foolish as to steal from such a person?
Still, his desperation made him decide to face the trouble. So, Jack waited until the hunter had left with his bow in hand. Then, he slipped through the door as quietly as a shadow, seized the gold-filled sack and the bird – that was surprisingly calm – and stepped outside carefully.
Just as he was about to run, he heard a deep roar, “Thief!” The hunter had returned and seen him, but Jack ran for it, with the treasure and the goose weighing heavily in his hands. The hunter followed him, and arrows whistled past Jack’s ears, but he kept running, his feet getting tangled in roots as he scrambled towards the beanstalk.
At last, he reached it and began his descent, sliding and climbing down as quickly as he could. The hunter, though furious, stopped at the beanstalk’s edge, unwilling to follow into the unknown depths.
When Jack reached the ground, he wasted no time chopping at the base of the beanstalk with an axe. Before his very eyes, the huge stalk swayed and came crashing to the earth, and its vibrations shook the entire village. As for the hunter, he could but see his treasure and his captive goose disappear.
On the ground, Jack and his mother were overjoyed, for the gold coins helped them rebuild their home and purchase new land on which to grow crops. And the goose continued to lay golden eggs, ensuring a safe future for the family. One day, to his mother’s surprise, Jack went and bought Bessie, for she was also a part of the family.
The ordeal was a dangerous yet successful one, and it was full of lessons, the biggest of which was that the cost of bravery is risk. Thus, Jack learned the importance of weighing the risks against the rewards before jumping into any difficult situation.
