Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell a giant. Everybody knows the classic fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. We all know that he climbed up the stalk and met a talking harp, a singing cow, and a giant. But did you know that in Tim Burton’s version of this story, Jack is a cannibal? And that in versions around Europe and Asia, there is no beanstalk at all?
Jack in the Beanstalk has been told and retold so many times that it can be difficult to pin down exactly how the story goes. Even if you’ve only heard one version, it may still differ from another version that’s equally well known. This is especially true of older fairy tales which were not written down until long after they were first told; like Chinese whispers, each telling will change something about them.
Also, sometimes people are not very aware that different versions of the same story exist. When this happens, someone may tell their version as if it is The Definitive Version, even if it is only one of several possibilities. For example: some people believe that there was originally no giant in Jack in the Beanstalk – indeed, there was no beanstalk! There was just a dwarf who lived
In Tim Burton’s version of the classic fairy tale, Jack in the Beanstalk, Jack is a young man who lives with his mother who is a widow. He is poor and can’t afford to pay the rent to their landlady, Madame Rose. Madame Rose is about to throw them out of the house when she notices that Jack has a cow. When she sees this cow she takes it as payment for debt and gives him a handful of magic beans as change for the cow.
Jack’s mother is angry with him for getting rid of their last source of income and throws the beans away. That night Jack discovers that one of the beans has grown into a beanstalk that reaches up into the clouds. He decides to climb up and see what is at the top. When he reaches the top he finds himself on an island in the sky where an enormous castle is built into the clouds. The castle belongs to an evil giant who captures Jack when he hears him exploring around in his home.
The giant’s wife frees Jack and gives him a magic hen that lays golden eggs. Jack returns home with this hen, but on his way down the beanstalk he has to fight off some men sent by Madame Rose to capture him. In one version of
There are a lot of theories about the origin of the Jack in the Beanstalk tale. One theory is that it may have derived from a Scandinavian folktale, The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear. In this tale, a boy is sent away by his parents to learn fear and he comes across a giant and scares him away by stealing his magical objects.
The giant’s wife comes after him in another form and eventually, the boy is able to get away by throwing her magic objects into the sea. The boy then returns home, having learned what fear is.
The story of Jack in the Beanstalk has been told for hundreds of years and illustrated by some very famous artists. Gustave Dore illustrated one version in 1849 and Arthur Rackham was another illustrator who created a version in 1907.
A version of the story has been adapted as an anime series called Jack & Beanstalk, which first debuted in Japan in 2010.
There are a number of other tales that are similar to Jack in the Beanstalk. In The Three Little Pigs, for example, there is a wolf who tries to blow down the houses of three little pigs and when he fails, he climbs down their chimney instead and eats the pigs up! In Little
The Jack in the Beanstalk fairy tale has been a childhood classic for generations. The story of Jack and the giant who lurks at the top of the beanstalk has been told many times, but did you know there are some interesting differences between different versions of this fairy tale? Check them out!
1. Jack And The Beanstalk Wasn’t Always Called Jack And The Beanstalk.
There have been various versions and interpretations of this story, but the earliest known printed version was written in 1807 by Benjamin Tabart and was called The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean.
2. The Story Was Originally Set In Cornwall, Not England.
The original tale of Jack and the Beanstalk was set in Cornwall, England, but because the area is so geographically different from the rest of England, it has always been a place where myths and fairytales are born. As the tale grew in popularity, it eventually moved to a more generic setting.
3. Jack’s Mother Wasn’t Always Called Dame Trot Or Dame Gothel.
In some versions of the story, Jack’s mother is called Mrs Lazybones or Dame Durden (which is also a character from another fairy tale). In other versions she is nameless or has no mother figure at all.
4. There Are Many Different Versions Of This Story From All Over The World.
This story has been told in many different countries with various names such as:
Feather-Pluck’d Chicken (China)
Jack Spriggins and the
The story was first published in 1734 under the title The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean.
The original story is much darker than other versions. Jack steals from the giant, and the giant’s wife gets burnt alive.
In some versions of the tale, it is Jack’s mother who plants the beans and not Jack himself.
There are many different versions of the story, with different endings. In some versions, Jack only steals from the giant once (he doesn’t kill him) and in others, he actually becomes king at the end of the story!
There are also stories where there is no giant involved at all! In one version, Jack sells his cow for a handful of magic beans which grow into a beanstalk that leads to a land where a fairy lives – she gives Jack all kinds of treasures.
The character, named Jill in this version, climbs up to steal back some things that had been stolen from her by a witch!
The character is called Rosamond in this version and climbs up to rescue her sister who has been kidnapped by a giant – she tricks him into letting her go by pretending to be someone else.
The character is called Alma in this version and climbs up to rescue her brother who has
The giant is actually a genetic experiment gone wrong. In the film, Jack and his mom are scientists that have been experimenting with growth hormones and accidentally created a giant that is 50-foot tall. Eventually, he escapes and goes on a rampage in London (where the movie takes place).
The original fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, was published in 1734 by Benjamin Tabart. The original story had many differences to other versions: Jack’s mother threw the beans out of the window in disgust, causing them to grow into a gigantic beanstalk overnight. The giant’s wife was not described as being a giantess herself, but instead as being “a very large woman”. There were two giants – one male and one female. The female giant was called Blunderbore and she was killed by Jack at the end of the story.
The famous saying “Fee-fi-fo-fum” does not appear in any version before 1738.
Sometime after 1807 (the year in which Joseph Jacobs’ collection of English folktales was published), “Fee-fi-fo-fum” became associated with the giant’s cry.
The original 1807 publication contained three stories: Jack and The Beanstalk,