om memories of his
Australian childhood. He materially shortens
the story by omitting the fairy lady, who, he
suggests, was put in "to prevent the tale
becoming an encouragement to theft." He also
made Jack's character more consistent by making
him more sympathetic and kind at the beginning
and less of a "ne'er-do-well," though the
noodle element in the selling of the cow could
not be eliminated. Andrew Lang, in his _Green
Fairy Book_, gives an excellent version of the
story in its most extended form. Both the
versions mentioned introduce, when the giant
comes in, the formula generally associated with
"Jack the Giant Killer":

"Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

The version chosen for use here contains the
elements of the story most familiar to past
generations and is probably as near the
commoner oral traditions as it is possible to
secure. It is taken from Miss Mulock's _The
Fairy Book_, a very fine selection of tales,
first published in 1863, and still widely used.
Miss Muloch (Dinah Maria Craik, 1826-1887) is
best known as the author of the popular novel
_John Halifax, Gentleman_.

JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK

In the days of King Alfred there lived a poor woman, whose cottage was
in a remote country village, many miles from London. She had been a
widow some years, and had an only child named Jack, whom she indulged so
much that he never paid the least attention to anything she said, but
was indolent, careless, and extravagant. His follies were not owing to a
bad disposition, but to his mother's foolish partiality. By degrees he
spent all that she had--scarcely anything remained but a cow.

One day, for the first time in her life, she reproached him: "Cruel,
cruel boy! you have at last brought me to beggary. I have not money
enough to purchase even a bit of bread; nothing now remains to sell but
my poor cow! I am sorry to part with her; it grieves me sadly, but we
cannot starve."

For a few minutes Jack felt remorse, but it was soon over, and he began
asking his mother to let him sell the cow at the next village, teasing
her so much that she at last consented. As he was going along he met a
butcher, wh