After climbing higher and higher , till he grew afraid to look down for fear he should be giddy , Jack at last reached the top of the Beanstalk , and found himself in a beautiful country , finely wooded , with beautiful meadows covered with sheep . A crystal stream ran through the pastures ; not far from the place where he had got off the Beanstalk stood a fine , strong castle . Jack wondered very much that he had never heard of or seen this castle before ; but when he reflected on the subject , he saw that it was as much separated from the village by the perpendicular rock on which it stood as if it were in another land . While Jack was standing looking at the castle , a very strange-looking woman came out of the wood , and advanced towards him . She wore a pointed cap of quilted red satin turned up with ermine , her hair streamed loose over her shoulders , and she walked with a staff . Jack took off his cap and made her a bow . ` If you please , ma'am , ' said he , ` is this your house ? ' ` No , ' said the old lady . ` Listen , and I will tell you the story of that castle . ` Once upon a time there was a noble knight , who lived in this castle , which is on the borders of Fairyland . He had a fair and beloved wife and several lovely children : and as his neighbours , the little people , were very friendly towards him , they bestowed on him many excellent and precious gifts . ` Rumour whispered of these treasures ; and a monstrous giant , who lived at no great distance , and who was a very wicked being , resolved to obtain possession of them . ` So he bribed a false servant to let him inside the castle , when the knight was in bed and asleep , and he killed him as he lay . Then he went to the part of the castle which was the nursery , and also killed all the poor little ones he found there . ` Happily for her , the lady was not to be found . She had gone with her infant son , who was only two or three months old , to visit her old nurse , who lived in the valley ; and she had been detained all night there by a storm . ` The next morning , as soon as it was light , one of the servants at the castle , who had managed to escape , came to tell the poor lady of the sad fate of her husband and her pretty babes . She could scarcely believe him at first , and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones ; but the old nurse , with many tears , besought her to remember that she had still a child , and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent . ` The lady yielded to this reasoning , and consented to remain at her nurse 's house as the best place of concealment ; for the servant told her that the giant had vowed , if he could find her , he would kill both her and her baby . Years rolled on .
The old nurse died , leaving her cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to her poor lady , who dwelt XXXXX it , working as a peasant for her daily bread .
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