most magnificent plumage ever seen, shot with
green and gold andcrimson. When the giant said,
‘Lay!’ then at once the hen laid an egg of solid
gold that shone like the sun. :
The ogre amused himself a long while with the
hen; meanwhile his wife was washing up the
supper things in the back kitchen.

At length the giant wearied of the somewhat
monotonous sport and fell fast’ asleep by his
fireside, and Jack now stole out from the oven,
tucked the hen under his arm, slipped through
the house door and ran as fast as his legs could
carry him due west, till he reached the head
of the bean stalk, and he descended it rapidly
and successfully, always carrying the hen under
his arm.

His mother was overjoyed to see him; he found
her crying bitterly, and lamenting his fate, for she
had made sure he had come to a shocking end
through his rashness.

Jack showed her the hen. ‘See, mother,’ said he,
‘here is an end to our toil and trouble. Now I
hope to make some amends for all the grief I have
caused you.’

The hen laid them as many eggs as they desired;
they sold them, and in a little time were rich
enough to buy cows, and a new suit for Jack, and
a best gown for his mother.

But Jack was not easy. He recollected the
command of the fairy, that he was to avenge his
father, and work for her release from the form of a
crow. Accordingly he made up his mind to climb
the bean stalk and visit cloudland once more.

One day he told his mother his purpose, and she
tried to dissuade him from it, but as she saw that
he was firmly resolved to do what he said, and with
her fears to some extent allayed by the successful
issue of his first expedition, she desisted from
her atempt, Moreover, she did not know what