Jack lived with his mother in a small cottage where the cupboard had begun to show its wooden back. On the stool by the hearth stood a pail with only a little milk in it, and in the shed their white cow lifted her mild eyes, as if she too knew the house had grown spare. In the morning, Jack’s mother tied her shawl and said, “We must sell the cow, Jack. There is no other thing to do.” Jack laid his hand on the cow’s neck, then took the rope and led her down the lane.
The road bent past hedges and damp fields. Before Jack reached the market, he met a small old man in a brown coat with bright buttons. The man looked at the cow, then at Jack, and drew five smooth beans from his pocket. “These are no common beans,” he said. “Give them good earth, and they will answer quickly.” Jack turned the beans in his palm and saw that they were speckled like tiny bird eggs. After a long moment, he gave the rope into the old man’s hand and took the beans instead.
When Jack came home, his mother stepped to the door at once. “Where is the cow?” she asked. Jack opened his hand, and the five beans shone green and brown in his palm. His mother stared at them, and her shoulders fell. “Beans?” she said. “For our cow?” She took them, not roughly, but with weary fingers, and flung …
6 chapters
