English Fairy Tales / Английские сказки. Elementary

Jack and the Beanstalk

There was once upon a time a poor widow who had a son named Jack and a cow named Milky-white. Every morning the cow gave the milk which they carried to the market and sold. But one morning Milky-white gave no milk, and they didn’t know what to do.

“What shall we do, what shall we do?” said the widow.

“Oh, mother, I’ll go and get work somewhere,” said Jack.

“We tried that before, and nobody took you,” said his mother. “We must sell Milky-white.

“All right, mother,” says Jack. “I’ll sell Milky-white, and then we’ll see what we can do.”

So he took the cow’s halter in his hand and went to the market. While he was going, he met an old man who said to him: “Good morning, Jack.”

“Good morning to you,” said Jack and wondered how he knew his name.

“Jack, where are you going?” said the man.

“I’m going to the market to sell our cow there.”

“Oh, I have five beans,” said the man, “and let’s change[63 - let’s change – давай меняться]: your cow for these beans.

“You swindler,” says Jack, “it won’t go![64 - it won’t go! – так не пойдёт!]“

“Ah! you don’t know what these beans are,” said the man. “If you plant them over-night, by morning they grow right up to the sky[65 - grow right up to the sky – вырастут прямо до неба].”

“Really?” says Jack.

“Yes, that is so, and if this is not true, you can have your cow back.”

“Good,” says Jack and gives him over Milky-white’s and takes the beans.

Jack came home happily.

“So what[66 - So what? – Ну что?], Jack?” said his mother. “I see you don’t have Milky-white, so you sold her. How much did you get for her?”

“You’ll never guess, mother,” says Jack.

“Oh no! Good boy! Five pounds, ten, fifteen… Or twenty?”

“No, just look: five magical beans.

“What!” says Jack’s mother. “My son is a fool, such a dolt! Oh my dear Milky-white! Take that![67 - Take that! – Вот тебе!] Take that! Take that! And your precious beans will go out of the window.”

So Jack went upstairs to his little room in the attic, and he was very sad. At last he began to sleep.

When he woke up, the room looked so funny.