NCE upon a time there lived a poor widow who had an only son named Jack. She was very poor, for times had been hard, and Jack was too young to work. Almost all the furniture of the little cottage had been sold to buy bread, until at last there was nothing left worth selling. Only the good cow, Milky White, remained, and she gave milk every morning, which they took to market and sold. But one sad day Milky White gave no milk, and then things looked bad indeed.
"Never mind, mother," said Jack. "We must sell Milky White. Trust me to make a good bargain," and away he went to the market.
For some time he went along very sadly, but after a little he quite recovered his spirits. "I may as well ride as walk," said he; so instead of leading the cow by the halter, he jumped on her back, and so he went whistling along until he met a butcher.
"Good morning," said the butcher.
"Good morning, sir," answered Jack.
"Where are you going?" said the butcher.
"I am going to market to sell the cow."
"It's lucky I met you," said the butcher. "You may save yourself the trouble of going so far."
With this, he put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out five curious-looking beans. "What do you call these?" he said.
"Beans," said Jack.