Jack and the Bean Tree
The Appalachian African American version of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk tale. Jack, a poor mountain boy, trades his family's only cow for a handful of seemingly worthless beans. His mother, furious, throws the beans out the window. Overnight, a giant beanstalk grows all the way to the sky. Jack climbs the beanstalk and discovers a world above the clouds—a giant's castle. He meets the giant's wife, who hides him from her husband, who 'smells the blood of a Christian.' Jack steals the giant's gold, a hen that lays golden eggs, and a magical singing harp. When the giant pursues him down th