Giant (Jack and the Beanstalk)

"Fee-fi-fo-fum!

I smell the blood of an Englishman!

Be he alive or be he dead,

I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" - The Giant, Jack & The Beanstalk

In the British fairy tale Jack & The Beanstalk, a giant features as the story's antagonist. Living high up in a castle above the clouds, this giant hoards treasure that he plunders from the Englishmen living on the land below. As well as money, the giant is also in possession of a hen that lays golden eggs (a goose in some versions of the story) and an enchanted harp that plays itself.

When the young boy Jack plants some magic beans on his farm, they grow into a colossal beanstalk that reaches above the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk and discovers the giant's castle, sneaking in where he finds the giant and his treasures. In the original version of the story, the giant is married and his wife helps Jack find and steal her husband's riches, but later versions tell that Jack acted on his own. Three nights, Jack intrudes upon the giant's castle, first stealing a sack of gold coins, then the golden hen, and finally the enchanted harp. When trying to take the harp, Jack disturbs the giant's sleep and the giant chases him. As Jack climbs down the beanstalk, he calls out to his mother for an axe to cut down the humongous plant. Jack makes it down first and cuts down the beanstalk before the giant can safely reach the ground. When the beanstalk falls, the giant is killed and Jack and his mother live happily ever after off of the giant's riches.