m in an old lumber-closet. The giant
returned at the usual time, and walked in so heavily, that the house
was shaken to its foundation. He seated himself by the fire, and soon
after exclaimed: "Wife, I smell fresh meat!"

The wife replied it was the crows, which had brought a piece of raw
meat, and left it at the top of the house. While supper was preparing,
the giant was very ill-tempered and impatient, frequently lifting up
his hand to strike his wife for not being quick enough. He was also
continually upbraiding her with the loss of his wonderful hen.

At last, having ended his supper, he cried, "Give me something to
amuse me--my harp or my money-bags."

"Which will you have, my dear?" said the wife, humbly.

"My money-bags, because they are the heaviest to carry," thundered he.

She brought them, staggering under the weight: two bags--one filled
with new guineas, and the other with new shillings; she emptied them
out on the table, and the giant began counting them in great glee.
"Now you may go to bed, you old fool." So the wife crept away.

Jack from his hiding-place watched the counting of the money, which he
knew was his poor father's, and wished it was his own; it would give
him much less trouble than going about selling the golden eggs. The
giant, little thinking he was so narrowly observed, reckoned it all
up, and then replaced it in the two bags, which he tied up very
carefully and put beside his chair, with his little dog to guard them.
At last he fell asleep as before, and snored so loud, that Jack
compared his noise to the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the
tide is coming in. At last Jack, concluding all secure, stole out, in
order to carry off the two bags of money; but just as he laid his hand
upon one of them, the little dog, which he had not perceived before,
started from under the giant's chair and barked most furiously.
Instead of endeavouring to escape, Jack stood still, though expecting
his enemy to awake every instant. Contrary, however, to his
expectation, the giant continued in a sound sleep, and Jack, seeing a
piece of meat, threw it to the dog, who at once ceased barking, and
began to devour it. So Jack carried off the bags, one on each
shoulder, but they were so heavy that it took him two whole days to
descend the bean-stalk and get back to his mother's door.

When he came he found the cottage deserted. He ran from one room to
another, without being able to find any one; he th