Dancing with Trees Page 9

  As soon as the sun rose, he saddled his mare and rode back to the wise wife’s door. She sat him down and counselled him. ‘Only once have I known of anyone returning from the fairy-realm.’

  ‘I would do anything to get my girl back,’ the farmer said, tears in his eyes. ‘That child is all I have, she means more to me than anything in this world. Please tell me what I am to do.’

  Wise Sara spoke kindly to him. ‘This is no easy task for you, but if you can go to the exact place where she first saw the little people and give them three special presents, then all will be well. You must wear a sprig of rowan for your own protection. Here is what you must do: Take with you a light which does not burn, a living bird with no bones in its body, and the limb of a creature, taken without shedding any blood. If you can take these three gifts to the fairy king, then you may get your girl back.’

  The farmer thanked Sara with all his heart and rode back towards his home, his mind full of puzzlement at how he might find these strange gifts.

  An old beggar man lay at the side of the road. He raised a trembling hand towards the farmer as he passed. ‘Please sir, can you spare some change for a poor old body, to pay for soup and bread at the village inn?’

  The farmer reached inside his jacket, pulled out a sixpence and gave it to the old fella. The beggar man’s eyes began to twinkle and he spoke in a stronger voice. ‘It’s a kind man who would help an old tramp, when that man plainly has worries of his own. For your generosity to me, I will tell you the answer to the first of your riddles; ‘tis a glow-worm that gives out light without burning.’

  The farmer was amazed, ‘Of course! Why hadn’t he thought of that?’ He began to thank the tramp, but as he opened his mouth to speak, the old man shimmered for a moment and then vanished.

  The farmer hurried his horse on; at least he now had the answer to one of the questions.

  A thrush flew in front of the horse, landing squawking and flapping in the bushes. There, hovering above it, was a hawk ready to swoop upon the frightened bird. The farmer grabbed a stone from the road and threw it at the bird of prey. The hawk flew away, leaving the thrush to escape unharmed.

  The small bird cocked it’s head to one side, opened its beak and spoke directly to the farmer, ‘A caring, goodly soul you are to save my life, when you have so many woes of your own. For your kindness to me I will give you a gift. The bird with no bones in its body, is a chick of a hen, only fifteen days old, living inside the egg.’

  The farmer’s jaw dropped in amazement. Why, he had plenty of hens and fertilized eggs at his farm, this riddle was no problem to him now. He thanked the magical bird. As he did so, it chirped and vanished before his eyes.

  Once more he set out towards his farm, only stopping to gather three glowworms from the roots of a big old tree, along the way. As he put them safely in his pocket, he noticed a rabbit squealing and kicking in a snare at the edge of the road. He could not stand for this type of cruelty to a living beast, so he bent down and gently released the creature’s leg from the harsh, wire trap.

  Usually when freed, a rabbit would dash away, but this creature turned to look at the farmer, and spoke. ‘Even though you have troubles of your own, you have stopped to help me, so I will repay your kindness and help you. Take the tail of a lizard, for this you can pull from the owner without shedding blood.’

  The farmer smiled for joy and began to thank the wild rabbit, but it flickered in the light and disappeared into thin air. He was beginning to get used to all the strange happenings of the day!

  Once home, he turned his horse into the field, and went over to the hen house. He looked to his broody hens and counted the days since they’d laid. Sure enough one hen was sitting on an egg, fifteen days old. The farmer took it, wrapped it in a hanky and put it gently into his pocket. Then he climbed the hill. There, on a big rock, sat a lizard, heating itself in the warm sunshine. The farmer crept up behind the snoozing reptile and grabbed its tail ... POP! The lizard sped away in fright, leaving its tail in his hand, and not a drop of blood was spilled. Next he took a sprig of green rowan and tucked it firmly into his cap. Then he set off to the caves where his child had described her first meeting with the fairies.

  As the farmer approached the rocks, he bent down on his knees and peered into the dark opening between the boulders. He cleared his throat, as shy men often do before speaking, and called out, ‘Fairy-folk, give me back my daughter.’

  The fairies heard him and rushed furiously up through their cave towards him. They saw the rowan twig and stopped.

  He laid the glow-worms, the fifteen day-old egg, with a live boneless chick inside, and the lizard’s tail down in front of them.

  ‘Here are three gifts for your king. Now please may I have my little girl back?’ The farmer waited as the fairies snatched up the strange presents.

  The king of the fairies inspected the gifts and smiled. He clapped his little hands and the fairies and gifts disappeared. Moments later the farmer’s daughter emerged out of the cave and jumped into her father’s open arms. He hugged his child for all he was worth. Together they went back to the farmhouse. The two of them sat down to eat toast and tea at the kitchen table. The child told her father what fun it had been in the fairies’ underground palace, and how much singing and dancing they had done.

  When her tale was told, she looked at the posy of primroses still in a vase on the table, and told her daddy that she had learned her lesson. ‘Never again will I pick primrose flowers father, because these are a special flower loved by the fairy-people. These precious spring-time blooms must remain in the ground, where the fairies can sing and dance around them on moonlit nights.’

  And of course, these wild flowers are a protected species even to this day.

  NOTES: The fairy-beliefs and riddles in this lovely English folktale, delight audiences young and old alike. You can make this participatory by asking the listeners to suggest what the farmer must do to silence his farm and home on the night that the fairies invade. Also, asking the audience to guess the answer to these three tricky riddles is a lot of fun.

  The rural subject matter of this tale loans itself naturally to many topics for environmental discussion – just make a list of the themes within this story and take your pick: from the decline of the song thrush in the British countryside to protected flowers and species, there are many fascinating eco-topics which can be related to the twists and turns of this classic folktale.

  15

  JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

  (ENGLAND)

  Once upon a time, there was a boy called Jack who lived with his mother in a little cottage in the countryside. Sadly, they were very poor. All they had was a cow called Milky-White. She gave them very good milk, until one day the milk dried up.

  ‘Oh no,’ said Jack’s mum. ‘You’ll have to take Milky-White to the market Jack, and see how much you can sell her for. The money you get for her will buy us some food and might even be enough to start our own shop.’

  Jack put the halter on Milky-White and began the journey to the market place. He hadn’t gone far along the road when he met an old man with white hair and a white beard.

  ‘Hello there young Jack. Where are you going with that fine looking cow?’ asked the old man.

  Jack was puzzled as to how the old fella knew his name, but he remembered his manners and replied politely, ‘Good day to you sir. Why, I be taking our milk-cow to sell at the market. Mother and I have no money and there’s no food in our house. I didn’t even have any breakfast this morning!’

  ‘Well, Jack, she’s a nice looking cow, so perhaps I can save you the journey to market and buy her from you right now.’ The old man’s eyes were twinkling as he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out five strange looking beans. ‘Here you go young sir – what do you say to five beans for your cow? Five MAGIC beans!’ He showed them to Jack.

  Jack gasped. He’d never seen such strange beans before. ‘They must be magic!’ he thought to himself. ‘W
hy thank you, kind gentleman. I’m sure they will bring my mother and me much luck. What should I do with the beans?’

  ‘Plant them out in the garden and there your fortune is sure to grow.’ The old man winked at Jack as he handed him the beans. He took Milky-White’s rope and led her off along the road, whistling a happy tune as he went.

  Jack put the beans safely in his pocket and ran all the way back home to show his mother what he’d got for Milky-White.

  ‘My, you were fast,’ his mother said as he burst in through the door. ‘Did you get much money for our cow? Have you bought us something good for breakfast?’

  Jack placed the unusual looking beans on the kitchen table and told his mum about the old man he’d met along the road.

  ‘And these ’ere are magic beans, mum – I reckon I got a right good bargain for old Milky-White!’ Jack was grinning from ear to ear, proud of his lucky bargain. But Jack’s mother was not happy. She grabbed him by the ear and cuffed him hard. ‘You silly boy. You aren’t nothing but a fool! Magic beans – how could you be so daft?’

  She grabbed the beans and threw them right out of the door into the little garden. They flew through the air and scattered all about the bushes and grass.

  ‘You, lad, will go right to your room and stay there ’til I can bear to look at you again – you, boy, are grounded!’ She pulled his ear and spanked his backside as she sent him up the stairs to his bed.

  He lay there, sobbing, with a rumbling empty tummy, a throbbing ear and sore bottom.

  He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing Jack knew, he was waking up and sunlight was shining all dappled and green into his little bedroom in the attic. He got dressed and went to the window, to see what was creating the strange green glow and the shadows in his room. To his amazement there was a huge beanstalk growing right next to his bedroom. Jack looked up; the stalk disappeared straight through the clouds and into the sky.

  ‘Oh my, it must have grown from one of the magic beans!’ Jack declared, scratching his head in wonder. He clambered out onto the huge stalk and began to climb up and up, higher and higher, through the clouds and higher still, until he reached a land above the clouds.

  He jumped down from the humungous plant onto a place above the world. Everything was big – very big! He had to fight his way through grass as big as trees and then climb a rocky hill covered in boulders the size of elephants! Finally, he reached an enormous castle at the top of the hill. Jack reached for the doorknocker, but it was too high off the ground for him to touch. Set into the door was a cat-flap, big enough for a lion to get through.

  ‘Wow, a very big cat must live here,’ Jack said to himself. He pushed with all his strength at the cat-flap and just managed to squeeze himself through.

  Jack found himself in a gigantic hallway with massive pictures all along the walls of the biggest, ugliest ogres he had ever seen! Then he noticed a wonderful smell ...

  ‘Mm, food,’ Jack said, out loud.

  He followed the smells of delicious cooking to a dining room. In the middle of the huge room was a large table covered in tasty things to eat. Jack climbed up the table leg and investigated the breakfast spread. The sausages were as big as whole pigs, the bowl of porridge as big as a swimming pool, the rack of toast bigger than a double-decker bus, and fried eggs the size of flying saucers! Jack didn’t know what to eat first.

  But before he could take a bite, the ground began to shake, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. A giant woman came into the room. Jack ran to hide behind the sausages, but he didn’t feel safe there, so he dashed to the porridge spoon, but his feet poked out from there, so he hid between the slices of humongous toast.

  ‘Oh, my, look a mouse on the table!’ yelled the massive woman. She raised the gigantic fork she had in her hand to spear what she thought was a mouse.

  Jack screamed, ‘NO! Please don’t stab me with your fork. I’m a boy, not a mouse!’

  The giantess looked closely at Jack. ‘Phew, that’s all right then. I like little boys, can’t stand mice though.’ She picked Jack up by his arm and dangled him in front of her face and smiled at him. ‘How cute. I’ve always wanted a little boy. You can come and live with me.’

  But just then, the ground began to shake and tremble and, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, an even bigger giant man came striding into the room.

  The giantess quickly tucked Jack into her apron pocket.

  ‘Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishmun,’ the giant sang out, as he sat down at the table, sniffing the air.

  ‘No you can’t dear, that’s these lovely sausages you’re smelling,’ the giantess said sweetly to her husband, as she pushed the plate of jumbo sizzlers under his nose.

  ‘Oh yes, sausages, of course dear, how silly of me,’ the giant replied and began tucking into his breakfast.

  When the giantess went into the kitchen to fetch the teapot for her husband’s massive cup of tea, Jack decided to make his escape. He jumped out of her apron pocket, landed on a tea towel, swung down to the floor and began to run as fast as he could. He ran into the hall, past the paintings of giant men and women, and was just about to dive through the cat-flap, when someone, in another room, yelled, ‘HELP ME!’ Jack poked his head in through the door and saw a big, unhappy hen, sitting on a golden egg.

  ‘Hi, Jack, I’m the hen who lays the golden eggs. Please will you set me free and take me back to earth? My master gave you the magic beans, so that you would come and rescue me from this greedy old giant.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Jack, ‘but d’you think I could have one of your golden eggs? That would make my mum very happy.’

  ‘Help yourself,’ squawked the hen. ‘In fact, you could even rescue the golden harp over there. I’m sure my master will give you a great big reward for her – the giant stole her from him too.’

  Jack bundled the chicken under one arm, put the egg in his pocket and grabbed the golden harp in the other hand. The harp got such a fright she began to scream.

  ‘Help! Stop! Thief!’ she yelled at the top of her voice.

  ‘Ssh’, hissed Jack, ‘I’m helping you escape from the giant.’

  But the harp was too frightened to listen and she just kept yelling, ‘Stop, thief, murder!’

  The giant heard all the commotion and he came stamping out into the hall,

  ‘Fee, fie, foe fum

  I smell the blood of an Englishmun

  Fee, fie fo, foy

  I smell the blood of an English boy.

  Be he live, or be he dead,

  I’ll shake him hard

  and slap his head.’

  When he saw Jack wrestling the golden harp and chicken through the cat flap, the giant was furious. He opened the door and came racing after him. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

  Jack tumbled down the rocky hillside, bashing and scraping himself the whole way, ‘Ahh, ouch, bish-bash, bump!’

  Then Jack scampered through the grass forest, ‘Swish, swoosh, slap dash.’

  He grabbed the top of the beanstalk and began to swing his way down as fast as he could. Beans and leaves went flying everywhere.

  Down below, Jack’s mum came out of the house to look at all the greenery and beans raining down on the roof from the beanstalk.

  The golden harp shrieked and screamed the whole way, ‘Stop thief, help, murder!’

  In her excitement the chicken started laying dozens of golden eggs.

  Jack’s mum watched in amazement as golden eggs showered down on the garden. Then Jack fell down with a thump on the grass in front of her. The chicken squawked and the harp burst into tears.

  ‘Mum quick, get the axe!’ shouted Jack. She fetched the axe from the woodpile and gave it to him. He began to chop at the beanstalk.

  The beanstalk swayed from side to side. Jack and his mum looked up. ‘What’s that big thing coming down?’ his mum asked, pointing to a huge shape clinging on to the top.

  ‘It’s the giant mum and he eats humans!’

  ‘Right lad, give me that axe and stand
clear,’ his mother said. She took the axe and chopped with all her strength – and Jack’s mum was as strong as an ox; she’d been chopping wood all her life.

  ‘CHOP, CHOP, CHOP,’ went the axe.

  ‘WHOA, HELP, WHOO!’ cried the giant, as the stalk swung wildly from side to side.

  ‘CHOP, CHOP, CHOP,’ went Jack’s mum with the axe.

  ‘WHOA, WOO-HOO AHHHHHhhhhhhh ...’ called the giant as he fell down to earth.

  He hit the ground so hard, that he bounced up high and disappeared back into the sky. When the clouds cleared, Jack and his mum could just make him out, sitting up on the edge of his world. The giant shook his fist at Jack and yelled down, ‘I’ll get you next time boy!’

  ‘Ha, ha, I don’t think so,’ said Jack, triumphantly.

  Jack and his mum cleared up all the mess left from the chopped-up beanstalk – they had enough big green beans to make stews, pies, paté and pickles to last a year. They gave the silly golden harp back to the old man, who let them keep the happy hen that laid the golden eggs. Jack sold the golden eggs at market, and so he and his mother really did get to live comfortably and happily ever after.

  NOTES: This classic tale is as popular with audiences today as it ever was. We were particularly influenced by Bobby Norfolk’s retelling in Ready-To-Tell-Tales. He includes the connection between the old man who buys the cow and the magic hen and golden harp. He also introduces the nice twist at the end of the story, where the giant doesn’t die, but instead bounces right back up to where he came from.

  It is a great food-themed story. You can let the audience suggest their favourite foods for breakfast and put them on the giant’s breakfast table. You can make this very interactive with climbing the beanstalk actions, fighting your way through the grass and up the mountain, then up the table leg. Use as many fun sound effects as you like during all of the escape and running scenes. The audience may like to join in with the ‘Boom, boom, booms,’ as the giants approach and they always chime in with, ‘Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum’ – you can then teach them the second verse.