“Well, my boy, where did you come from?”
“I came up the ladder,” answered Jack.
The old woman looked at him very sharply. “Do you remember your father?” she asked.
Jack thought this a queer question, but he replied: “No, I do not. Whenever I ask my mother about him she cries, and will not tell me.”
At this, the old woman leaned her face very close to Jack’s and snapped her bright eyes. “I will tell you,” she said, “for I am a Fairy!”
The Fairy smiled. “Do not be afraid, my dear, for I am a good, good Fairy. But before I tell you anything, you must promise to do exactly as I say.”
Jack promised, and the Fairy began her story.
“A long while ago, when you were only a tiny baby, your father and mother lived in a beautiful house, with plenty of money and servants and everything nice. They were very happy, because everyone loved your father for the kind things he did. He always helped people who were poor and in trouble.
“Now, miles and miles away there was a wicked Giant. He was just as bad as your father was good. When he heard about your father he decided to do something very terrible. He went to your house and killed him. He would have killed you and your mother, too, but she fell down on her knees and begged: ‘Oh, please do not hurt me and my little baby. Take all our treasures, but do not kill us.’