Jacobs History (1854-1916)

• Australian born.
  • Educated and lived in England for many years.
    • American Citizen from 1900.
• Jacobs was a Jewish historian and folklorist. His interest in folklore came from his early writing on Jewish anthropological studies. Today Jacobs is well known for a series of retellings of folktales for children. One of which was published in 1890 titled English Fairy Tales, in which Jack and the Beanstalk appeared. ( Zipes 2000: 510).
• Jacob's version of the tale is the most retold either in his original form or simplified. (Goldberg 2001: 12).

Synopsis

The Beginning

• 'There was once upon a time...'
• There is a poor widow, only son Jack and a cow named Milky White.
• All they had to live on was Milky White's milk but one day she gave none. Jack says 'cheer up mother' and volunteers to get work but his mother says he has tried that before and can't find any so it is resolved that Jack will take the cow to market and with the money his mother might start a shop.

The Beans

• Jack hadn't gone far and he sees a funny looking man who knows his name. The man asks Jack how many beans make five and Jack answers 'Two in each hand and one in your mouth' and so the funny man offers Jack the beans for being so 'sharp'. Jack agrees after being told they are magic and if it's not true he can have his cow back.
• Jacks mother asks how much he sold her for, 'Good boy! Five pounds, ten, fifteen, no, it can't be twenty'. After finding out that all he had is beans shes call him a 'dolt' and an 'idiot' and punishment Jack 'take that, take that, take that'.
• Jack is sent to bed without supper but is also sorry for his mother's sake.
• Even though the beans were thrown out the window there is a 'big beanstalk' next morning and it 'reached the sky'.
• "So he climbed and he climbed and he climbed he climbed and he climbed and he climbed until he reached the sky".

Up the Beanstalk

• Finds a great big tall house and on the door step a great big tall woman.
• Jack asks for breakfast as he is hungry, the woman replies that 'My man is an ogre' and 'he likes nothing better then boys broiled on toast'.
• 'the ogres wife wasn't such a bad sort after all' so she lets Jack in and feeds him but the ogre comes before he finishes.
• Ogres wife hides Jack in the oven.
• The ogre 'was a big one to be sure. At his belt there were three calves strung up by the heels' and in this version he says;

  "Fee- fi- fo- fum,

  I smell the blood of an Englishman,

  Be he alive or be he dead,

  I'll have his bones to grind my

  bread"

• Wife tells ogre 'nonsense', it's only scraps of yesterdays boy.
• Jack takes a bag of gold when the giant falls asleep and returns home.
• Jack and his mother lived off the gold for a while but this runs out so he returns. The ogre's wife lets Jack in as she is curious about the stolen treasure and Jack says he could tell her something about it if he wasn't so hungry. This time the ogre asks his wife for the hen that lays the golden eggs and Jack steals this and 'was off before you could say "Jack Robinson".
• Jack was not content and wished to try his luck again so one morning he rises early and climbs the beanstalk. This time he knew better then to ask the orgre's wife to let him in so he crept in while she is getting some water. The ogre smells Jack and the wife says he's sure to be in the oven but luckily this time he is in the copper. Jack steals a golden harp but it calls out "Master Master" so the giant wakes up and chases Jack.

The ending

• Jack cuts down the beanstalk with two swings of the axe so "The ogre fell down and broke his crown, and the beanstalk came toppling after"
• By showing the golden harp and selling golden eggs 'Jack and his mother became very rich, and he married a great princess, and they lived happily ever after'.

Source of full version: Heiner, Heidi Anne (2003) SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Annotated Jack and the Beanstalk [online]. Available: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/jackbeanstalk/index.html [Accessed 28 July 2006].

Modifications

• Jacobs main objective in compiling folk tales was for enjoyment of children unlike others such as the Grimm's who collected for archiving. He 'omitted incidents that were unduly coarse or brutal, adapted the language sometimes, especially dialect, and even deleted or changed an occasional episode' (Sutherland 1977: 163-164). He recorded alterations at the back of his books. Though he wasn't completely thorough with this recording system. For instance Jacob's source for his version of Jack and the Beanstalk is his storytelling nurse but ' he did not trouble to give any details about his storytelling nurse' (Phillip1992: 7) so little is known about the stories origins.

Also according to Goldberg (2001: 12)

'Jacobs claims to have printed this version “as it was told to me in Australia, somewhere about the year 1860” however, it is probable, considering the many corresponding details, that he used the 1809 chapbook version to refresh his memory. The events are those of 1809 [Tabart's version], except that the idea that the giant stole his wealth from Jack’s father is absent (and
so is the fairy who explained this event).'

In The Classic Fairy Tales Peter and Iona (1974: 163) agree that Jacobs tale is 'no more then a literary retelling of the text that has been in print more then half a century'. There are only minor differences which is surprising, his source was an oral version it could have been very different. You only need to look at the other version that was printed in the same year as Tabarts to see how different Jacobs version could have been. That is The History of Mother Twaddle, and the Marvellous Achievements of her son Jack, by B. A. T. This version is lyrical and even begins differently with Jacks mother finding a penny rather then selling a cow.

• Joseph Jacobs did not include a fairy as did Tabart's Chapbooks version as he did not like this element of the story, he said “The object of this was to prevent the tale from becoming an encouragement to theft! I have had greater confidence in my young friends, and have deleted the fairy who did not exist in the tale as told to me.” ' (Goldberg 2001: 20). This was a significant alteration as the Jacks time with the fairy takes almost one third of Tabart's book.

Jacobs wished to 'write "as a good nurse will speak" when she recounted tales' (Zipes 2000: 268). Evidence of this is seen in Jacobs language use as for example instead of Jack just climbing the beanstalk'. Jack climbed and climbed

and climbed
    and climbed
        and climbed
             and climbed
                 and climbed'

While the Tabart's version does have a predictable structure with the three visits to the giants castle, a common element of fairy tales with an event happening three times before the outcome occurs but Jacobs lends itself to a childrens enjoyment because of the repetition. This accounts for why this is the most popular version today.

Strength and Weakness

• The omission of the fairy seems to let down the tale, as it is interesting to know the background behind the giant and Jack's father and gives Jack a reason to kill the giant. This also allows readers to dream that they might come across some magic beans but if the fairy was present this would minimise this possibility because first of all the child would need a widowed mother. This version was adapted for children though so a simplified plot driven story is suited to this purpose.
• 'Corporal punishment is not common in the Jack and the Beanstalk tale' (Heiner 2003) but here it is present. It is now unacceptable but it wasn't when Jacobs wrote this and students will still find the line 'take that, take that, take that' humorous even if they shouldn't.
• Often just Jack and his mother are happy and rich at the end but in this version Jack marries a princess and they live happily ever after. This ending follows through with Jack having grown up, showing he is not a stupid boy but is competent to look after himself. Even going up the beanstalk Jack shows his independence by not telling his mother he is going.
• Jack is given the beans for being smart rather then having good intentions, which shows the irony with Jack being a dolt but it doesn't present appropriate values. Jack is quite greedy in this version, he goes back for the third time just because he wasn't content.
• Jacobs uses intertextual  referencing. Instead of stating that the giant was killed Jacobs references the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, so the 'Ogre fell down and broke his crown and the beanstalk came tumbling after'. This adds humour to the story and effectively avoids a violent ending.

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