JACKIE & THE BEANSTALK

A retelling of the classic, time-honored fairy tale, but with a different, historical fiction twist...

Once upon a time, in rural America in 1934…It has been 5 years since the stock market had crashed, and people, no matter which color or background or even their religion, have been affected. They have all lost their jobs, leaving very little money to pay for food, milk, etc. And yes, there are those who are struggling to get by on the farm, too…
And on a certain farm one sunny morning, there lived a young girl named Jackie, who lives with her father and mother. This year of 1934 has been very hard on them, and because they cannot pay the rent to run the farm, as they have been for the past 7 years, they had been forced to give up their chickens, cows, and hogs…all except one cow. This cow was not rented; Instead, Jackie and her family had paid for it out of their own money. And now that they do not have ANY money-save for a few pennies & nickels-Her mother insisted that the only way to survive is to have food, and to have food, they must have the money to pay for it, so they felt that is was best to sell the only possession that they have-Their cow.
So, Jackie went into town to try and sell their cow so that they could have enough money to buy food. She had no luck, however. Then, later one afternoon, she ran into a mysterious stranger, who tells her that he could have the cow for a bag of magic beans. He then tells Jackie that these beans are very magical and that they can provide her and her family with anything that they want! So, she took the back of beans and gave the mysterious stranger the cow and ran back to the farm. Jackie told her parents about those magic beans that she had sold her cow for, but her parents became so very angry that they do not know what to think of how their daughter would do such a thing! So, her father spanked Jackie, and sent her off to bed. 

Later, Jackie’s father threw the beans on the ground; Little did he know that those beans sank all by themselves into the ground! After everyone went to bed, something outside began to grow, and indeed, there was a beanstalk that grew itself out of the ground and began to grow larger and larger…
The very next morning, Jackie and her family woke up to find that there was a large beanstalk outside! Indeed, that mysterious stranger was right all along-those beans WERE magic! So, Jackie became curious, and began to climb up the beanstalk. Up, up, up, up she climbed…and then, she came upon a large castle made of diamonds! Jackie just could not believe her eyes! Those magic beans had really led me to something very special, she thought, and then she entered into the diamond castle. She had never seen such the inside of a castle so beautiful before in her entire life! Jackie looked around some more, and then she came across a golden goose that laid golden eggs! But that’s not all-She found a golden harp as well.
Just then, Jackie heard a sound, a big, booming sound… “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell a teeny little numb…skull!” said a voice. Jackie began to ask herself just what could that voice sound like, and so she took a closer look, and when she looked up, Jackie saw a great, big giant, so very mean and, well very grouchy! “What are you doing here in my royal castle?!” said the giant angrily, and Jackie replied, “Well, my family and I do not have any food to eat, so I was wondering if you could…” “Well, why didn’t you say so?! I’m hungry, too!!” Then, the giant grabbed Jackie and put her in the frying pan, and she began struggling to get free when, suddenly, that same mysterious stranger that she met earlier came to her rescue! He used a rope to tie a lasso to get Jackie out of the giant’s frying pan, and then they got the goose, gold eggs, and the gold harp, and then they darted out of the diamond castle.

Jackie and the mysterious stranger, while grabbing hold of those golden things, climbed way, way, way, way down, all the way back to the farm! Jackie’s parents do not know just what to think, at first, but then she tells them that all those golden things are from the castle of the giant, and that those things could help us save the farm. Then they see the giant, not very far away, who is climbing down towards the farm!
Jackie, her parents, and the mysterious stranger then took their axes and chopped the beanstalk in half, and then it came tumbling down, with the giant along with it! Alas, the giant was gone, as well as the beanstalk.
As for that mysterious stranger, he revealed himself to be a young, royal prince from a faraway cloud kingdom, and that he had ruled in that kingdom in the royal diamond castle until a fiendish giant came and took over the kingdom, causing the prince to secretly hide his identity and run away. He then went on to say that he had stole the beans that were meant for the giant and that he was looking for someone who could be brave enough to save his kingdom. Now that he has finally found that someone in Jackie and her family, and that they have defeated the giant and having been given the throne back to the young royal prince, they are told that the gold goose, gold eggs, and the golden harp are theirs to keep.

   And so, Jackie and her family are finally financially sound, thanks to the     golden goose that laid the golden eggs; Jackie and her mother have      since serenaded the town with their singing using the magic harp that the royal prince had given them. And so, happy again are the family whose love is as so very good as gold.
©2020 Jenn Webster