Bloody Tales

EPISODE XVII: Jack and the Beanstalk

SUMMARY: 
Jack is an impoverished young boy living with his widowed mother, Khatera, on their farm cottage with a dairy cow as their only source of income. While Jack can be a bit troublesome at times, he truly means well and tries to offer a helping hand in any way he can. As soon as their cow stops giving milk, Khatera tells him to take her into the market to have her sold so they can salvage some money. While in the market, Jack has difficulty finding a potential buyer, until he meets a strange man who offers Jack magic beans as payment for the cow and Jack eagerly agrees.

But when Jack returns home to his mother with the beans instead of money, Khatera angrily scolds him and punishes him by sending him off to bed without supper and tossing the beans outside on the ground. That night during a thunderstorm, the falling rain jumpstarts the magic in the beans, causing them to grow into a humongous beanstalk that stretches upward into the sky and past the clouds. The next morning, Jack curiously decides to climb the mysterious beanstalk to see how far up it goes and, sure enough, once he reaches the highest limit, he finds himself in a strange land above the clouds. As Jack wanders about this new landscape, he discovers a gigantic castle and sneaks inside, only to be stuck by a horrendous odor, but he brushes it off as he enters the castle to find everything is massive and is the home of a carnivorous, foul-tempered, but slow-witted Giant and his young, less-vicious wife who suffers from a severe case of chronic flatulence with each small release causing her great discomfort. Her husband is verbally abusive towards her because of this, but nevertheless has an uncanny sense of smell and hearing and her farts are toxic enough to kill any living being that trespasses in her castle. Jack uses a handkerchief to cover up his breathing and too avoid smelling the fumes. He notices that the Giant possesses a large bag of gold, a goose that lays golden eggs and a magical harp that plays music on its own accord. Over the stench of his wife's farts, the Giant picks up Jack's scent nearby, but his wife assuages his suspicions. After the Giant leaves, his wife discovers Jack and befriends him. She allows him to take the gold, knowing that he is poor.

Jack returns to his mother with the gold and Khatera is overjoyed. The next day, Jack returns to the castle and when the Giant takes a nap, he steals the goose and takes it back to his mother. But when he comes back once more for the last treasure, he finds it gone. He searches for it and sees that the Giant has taken it to bed with him. As careful and quiet as he could be, Jack slips the harp out of his grasp and goes to leave, but the Giant awakens and catches Jack in the act. The Giant chases after Jack all over the castle as the latter tries to escape with his stolen prize. The Giant's wife finds him and leads him to the exit and then rips a long, loud fart, covering up any other noise and allowing Jack to escape. The resulting fart causes her so much great pain that she ends up dying from it.

The angered Giant pursues Jack down the beanstalk and once he reaches the bottom, Jack quickly grabs an axe and uses it to chop down the beanstalk, causing the Giant to plummet to his death, crash-landing on top of the cottage with Khatera still inside, killing her in the process. Jack, distraught, mourns her death, but is approached by the strange man from before who bought the cow and adopts the boy as his own, revealing that he is actually a wizard.

CAST:
Jack, a poor young boy who was given the magic beans.

Khatera, Jack's exhausted, overworked mother.

The Giant, a fierce, man-eating giant living in the castle above the clouds that Jack discovers who eats any living creature that trespasses on his property.

The Giant's Wife, the Giant's younger, compassionate, less-vicious and flatulent wife who suffers from a painful farting problem.

The Strange Man, a mysterious man who gives the magic beans to Jack as payment for the cow.