Jack and the Witch

The giant found a rock and tossed it up to Jack.  Holding the rock against his apron-covered stomach, Jack began squeezing it as hard as he could. As he did, a little milk dripped out and landed at the giant’s feet.

“Well, if you can do it, so can I,” said the giant.  So Jack threw him the rock, and he squeezed as hard as he could. He ground that rock to little bits of dust.  But no milk came out.

“Now there’s something else I can do, giant.  I can cut open my belly and sew it right up again,” declared Jack.  “No, you can’t,” said the giant.  So Jack took his hatchet and slit open his apron as if it were his belly.  Milk and chicken and pie immediately spilled all over the ground.  Then he took a needle and thread out of his apron and sewed himself up.

The giant wasn’t going to be topped again, so he told Jack to throw him the hatchet.  The giant caught it and cut open his stomach, staggered around for a bit, and died right there.  Then Jack climbed down, cut off the giant’s two heads, and collected his reward.

- Retold by C.J.R.

One day Jack went looking for work and met a farmer who was looking for a miller.  The farmer asked Jack to come inside and have something to eat, but Jack said he’d like to get right to work.  So they went down to the mill.

Now the farmer showed Jack how to run the mill, and Jack told him he had done that kind of work lots of times.  Then the farmer explained his problem.

“I’ve hired many men,” he said, “but they’re always dead after the first night.”  Still, Jack needed the work and took the job.  So the farmer explained that Jack would have a room and a bed and could eat as much as he wanted.