Jack and the Beanstalk

A poor boy trades the family cow for a handful of magic beans in Jack and the Beanstalk, an old English fairy tale of a beanstalk that grows into the clouds.

Jack lives with his mother in a small cottage, and their only worth is an old cow. When the cow stops giving milk, his mother sends Jack to town to sell her. Instead, Jack comes home with a handful of odd beans, traded from a stranger who swore they were magic. His mother is furious and throws the beans out the window. But by morning, a huge beanstalk has grown up past the roof and out of sight into the sky.

Jack climbs it and finds a whole new world above the clouds: a wide road, a giant's castle, and a giant's wife who takes pity on him and hides him from her husband. Inside the castle are wonders guarded by the giant, and Jack has to think fast and move quiet to get away with anything at all. He climbs up and down more than once, each trip bolder than the last, until the giant notices what's missing and comes after him.

This is one of the best-known tales in English folklore, a story of daring and quick thinking passed down for generations and gathered by Joseph Jacobs in his English Fairy Tales. It has the shape of an old wonder tale: a poor family, a stroke of luck that looks like a mistake, and a climb into a world where the rules of home no longer apply.

It's a fine pick for anyone who grew up on fairy tales, or who loves an old story about cleverness beating size and strength. The telling stays slow and mild, built for winding down rather than thrills — let the beanstalk carry you up past the clouds, and sleep will likely find you before Jack ever climbs back down.