Jack and the Beanstalk
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole, publishing under pen name Felix Summerly, popularized the tale in The Home Treasury (1845), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890). Jacobs' version is most commonly reprinted today, and is believed to be closer to the oral versions than Tabart's because it lacks the moralizing.
| Jack and the Beanstalk | |
|---|---|
Illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1918, in English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie Steel | |
| Folk tale | |
| Name | Jack and the Beanstalk |
| Also known as | Jack and the Giant man |
| Aarne–Thompson grouping | AT 328 ("The Treasures of the Giant") |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Published in | Benjamin Tabart, The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk (1807) Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (1890) |
| Related | "Jack the Giant Killer" |
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is the best known of the "Jack tales", a series of stories featuring the archetypal English hero and stock character Jack.
According to researchers at Durham University and Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the story originated more than five millennia ago, based on a widespread archaic story form which is now classified by folklorists as ATU 328 The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure.