Читать книгу Английские волшебные сказки / English Fairy Tales онлайн | страница 10

Well, the big tall woman was so curious that she took him in and gave him something to eat. But he had scarcely begun munching it as slowly as he could when thump! thump! they heard the giant’s footstep, and his wife hid Jack away in the oven.

All happened as it did before. In came the ogre as he did before, said: ‘Fee-fi-fo-fum,’ and had his breakfast of three broiled oxen. Then he said: ‘Wife, bring me the hen that lays the golden eggs.’ So she brought it, and the ogre said: ‘Lay,’ and it laid an egg all of gold. And then the ogre began to nod his head, and to snore till the house shook.

Then Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoe and caught hold of the golden hen , and was off before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’ . But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the ogre , and just as Jack got out of the house he heard him calling

‘Wife, wife , what have you done with my golden hen ?’ And the wife said : ‘Why , my dear ?’

But that was all Jack heard , for he rushed off to the beanstalk and climbed down like a house on fire . And when he got home he showed his mother the wonderful hen , and said ‘Lay’ to it ; and it laid a golden egg every time he said ‘Lay’

Then Jack crept out of the oven on tiptoe and caught hold of the golden hen, and was off before you could say ‘Jack Robinson’. But this time the hen gave a cackle which woke the ogre, and just as Jack got out of the house he heard him calling:

‘Wife, wife, what have you done with my golden hen?’ And the wife said: ‘Why, my dear?’

But that was all Jack heard, for he rushed off to the beanstalk and climbed down like a house on fire. And when he got home he showed his mother the wonderful hen, and said ‘Lay’ to it; and it laid a golden egg every time he said ‘Lay’.

Well, Jack was not content , and it wasn’t long before he determined to have another try at his luck up there at the top of the beanstalk . So one fine morning , he rose up early , and got to the beanstalk , and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed and he climbed till he got to the top . But this time he knew better than to go straight to the ogre’s house . And when he got near it , he waited behind a bush till he saw the ogre’s wife come out with a pail to get some water , and then he crept into the house and got into the copper . He hadn’t been there long when he heard thump ! thump! thump! as before , and in came the ogre and his wife