Almost all children from my generation know about Jack and his magical bean stalk. It troubled me the first time my primary school teacher told us the story in class. Of course being a extremely shy and timid good pupil, I wouldn't dare to ask the question that was left unanswered until I was old enough to ignore it.
For those who don't know the story, it is really a simple.
Jack was a boy who lived with his mother. Although not mentioned in the story, I assumed in a remote area far from others for the later part of the story to work out. They were very poor and all they had got was an old cow named Buttercup.One fine day, mother asked Jack to take Buttercup to the market and sell her to get some money for their food.
Jack happily went and ended up con'ed by an old man (why always old men?) who exchange the cow for 5 beans, which he claimed was magical and would give Jack everything that he wanted.
Dumb Jack went home and of course got yelled at (probably beaten up) by mom. If he was my son, I would have strangled him.
Mom threw the beans out in the yard and they went to bed without food. Sob sob.
The next day, they found the beans had grown into a thick, tall bean stalk that shot all the way up in the clouds.
Jack climbed up the bean stalk and arrived at a huge house belonged to a giant. (some versions say "ugly giant" to make IT more evil)
In the house, Jack met an old lady who hid him away from the giant. (some versions say she was the giant mother. Well, fairy tale)
Jack found some treasures inside the "ugly giant" house and thank you very much ran away with all of them. Of course the giant went after him and as in all fairy tales, Jack out ran the giant and went back to earth safely to realize that the giant was climbing down the bean stalk right behind him.
Smart Jack grabbed an axe and chopped down the bean stalk just in time and the "ugly giant"fell and died.
I still remembered the sound effect my teacher made when she was telling the story. "sheeee¡ Poong" with her arm sweeping down to show us how the bean stalk would have fallen.
The treasure Jack got were a golden egg laying goose and a magic harp that could play by itself (an iPod probably).
Hence, jack and mom live rich and entertained ever after.
So, what is the moral of this story?
1. Its ok to steal if you are the main character of the story
2. If the other guy is a giant (especially ugly ones), witches etc, they deserve it.
3. Its ok to kill mercilessly for the main character to live happily ever after.
Lets check other famous fairy tales if they carry the same moral. We have to look at the original stories, not the adapted version for Hollywood.
1. Snow white ¨C the evil step mother queen was killed by the 7 dwarfs after she attempted murder on Snow White. Fair game.
2. Cinderella - No killing involved although her mother had to chop off the toes of her sisters to try to fit the glass shoe. She didn't even revenge on her evil mother and sisters
3. Little Mermaid - she had to kill the prince she loved to transform back to a mermaid. This is a sad love story and she didn't have a choice and it would likely haunt her for the rest of her sad life.
4. Thumbelina- the thumb size beauty with a kind heart. A warm story without any killing.
5. Hansel and Gretel -children of a useless father who were imprisoned by a witch who wanted to eat them. They cleverly tricked and killed the witch and escaped. Again, it is a fair game.
6. Sleeping beauty - brave prince broke the spell and saved the princess who might be older than his grand mother. No killing involved.
7. Frog prince - ugly frog turned into handsome prince after a kiss from the little princess who hated him. No killing.
8. Beauty and the beast - long story but no innocent people were killed.
9. Rumple Stilt skin - lapricon who made deal with a girl who later became a queen with his help. She won eventually but it was a deal and no foul play from either party.
10. Pinocchio - The wooden puppet who liked to lie. It was a happy ending and nobody was killed.Now, do you see the difference?
If you had told this story to your young innocent children (not too many of them nowadays), how would you have answered their questions?
- is Jack stealing?
- why did he kill the giant?
- is it right to steal and kill and live happily ever after?
If you had told this story to your young innocent children (not too many of them nowadays), how would you have answered their questions?
- is Jack stealing?
- why did he kill the giant?
- is it right to steal and kill and live happily ever after?
