Jack and the Beanstalk

Everybody knows the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. My mum read it to me when I was a kid growing up. I'd always felt sorry for poor Jack, and was very scared by the scary angry giant.


Fee-fi-fo-fum!

I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he 'live, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread!


That little verse used to send a shiver down my spine.

Ever looked at the story from a different angle?  I recently went on a training course that made me think about the story differently. 


The story begins with Jack being sent to market by his mother to sell their last possession - a cow.  So from the beginning we can tell that Jack and his mother are hard up.  Jack is from a single parent family and his mother is struggling to make ends meet.  The scene is set.


On the way to the market to sell the cow, Jack meets a stranger. Jack sells the cow for a bag of magic beans.  Why did Jack do this? Who is the stranger?  Has Jack fallen in with the wrong crowd?  After this point Jack seems to go off the rails.  This is where my childlike view of the story starts to change.
 
Jack gets home and has a blazing row with his mum about the 'beans' he swapped for a cow. Who can blame her?  Beans for a cow and magic ones at that, was he on drugs?  His mother throws the beans out of the window and sends Jack to his bedroom.  Overnight a gigantic beanstalk grows in Jacks garden. He immediately decides to climb to the top.
 
After making his way up the mighty beanstalk he comes to a magical castle in the clouds.  The castle is the home to a giant and his wife. So what does Jack now do?  He sneaks into the castle and meets the giants wife who he befriends.  When the wife says that her husband is coming home Jack steals some gold coins and runs away.  So young Jack has committed his first offence - a distraction burglary. He makes good his escape down the beanstalk and back to the safety of his home. Did Jack stop at this point? No, he becomes greedy and wants more.
 
Again he climbs the mighty beanstalk and breaks into the castle.  This time he finds the giant's pet, a hen that lays golden egg.  Jack is now a repeat offender, he is well on his way to a life of crime.  Again Jack makes his way down the beanstalk back to the safety of his home to share his new found wealth with his mother.  Now Jack has the means to live comfortably with the hen, does this stop him from committing another offence.  NO!!
 
Up the beanstalk he goes again, and this time the giant has got wise.  After being stung twice by the light fingered Jack he has installed a burglar alarm in the form of a magic harp.  So when Jack enters his home, and attempts to steal a golden harp it cries out for help.  The giant rushes back to his castle to try to protect his belongings and his home.  Jack hears the giant coming and runs to the beanstalk, and climbs down as fast as he can. The giant gives chase down the beanstalk, at this point some might say the giant is a 'have-a-go-hero'.
 
Jack climbs down the beanstalk and jumps to the safety of his garden.  Seeing the angry giant coming down the beanstalk he panics and picks up an axe.  Jack chops and chops at the beanstalk with all his might.  The beanstalk wobbles and shakes and finally falls to the ground with an almighty crash taking the giant with it.  The giant lies dead in a heap.  Jack can now add murder to his long list of offences.
 
The end