Jack and his companions are sitting around the campfire. Each person has taken turns telling their different stories and adventures, and now it is Jack's turn:

 

Well, where to begin? I have been in search of my fortune for many years now, but I haven't always been this way. I never thought about fortunes or gold until I was a boy, around the age of twelve. Let me see if I remember correctly...

My mother and I were going through some hard times. Our trusted cow, Milky-White, had stopped providing our family with milk. And thus, we were with no source of income. I was a silly boy when I was younger, so no one in our town would employ me. Our only choice was to sell Milky-White and use the money from the sale to start a business. This is where it got strange. As I was taking our cow to market to sell her, I met an old man on the side of the road.

"Good morning, Jack."  It was so strange how he knew my name. Then he asked me, "Do you know how many beans make five?"

I responded, "Two in each hand and one in your mouth!" I had heard this riddle before.

"Correct! And because you are correct I will trade you your cow for these beans. Once you plant them, they will grow into the sky overnight."

I told you before I was silly, and this is no exception. I actually believed him when he told me the beans would grow into the sky! So I handed him Milky-White and took the beans home to my mother. She was so angry with me that she threw the beans out the window and sent me to my room. When I woke in the morning, my room was dark. I knew it was because of the beans! A giant beanstalk was blocking my window, I knew it for sure! Overnight a beanstalk had grown into the clouds, and I couldn't wait to climb it! It took me a while, but at last I reached the top that opened to a road and a very large house.

Now, I know you gentlemen won't believe me, but in this house was a giant woman! Literally, a GIANT!

So, naturally, I asked her for some breakfast! I figured a giant woman would have lots and lots of food, and I hadn't eaten in a while.

But when I asked her for breakfast, she just started yelling at me! "You will become breakfast if you don't leave soon! My husband's favorite meal is little boys on toast. Leave quickly!" she told me, and I could tell that she meant it.

I pleaded with her until she gave me some bread. I did not believe that someone would actually eat a little boy. Once again, I was silly. As I was eating I heard a thumping and knew it was her husband coming home.

"Oh no! I told you to leave!" She shouted. She was panicked, but let me hide in her oven.

The Giant came back and I could tell he was big. He was singing a rhyme... I'll never forget the words:

"Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he alive or be he dead,
I'll have his bones to grind my bread."

He went to bed and the lady giant told me to leave while he was sleeping. But as I was leaving, I spotted a bag of golden coins on the table. Never had I seen so much gold in my life! So I took the bag and went home to my mother. This was the beginning of my quest for a fortune! We were able to live on that gold for a while, and my mother finally believed that the beans were magical!

 

Author's Note: The original story is Jack and the Beanstalk. I re-wrote the story as if Jack was telling of his adventures to a group of friends around a campfire. I did not change the contents of the story all that much. The main and most important change I made was to put it into first-person narration. The original story of Jack and the Beanstalk is much longer. Jack continues to climb the beanstalk and steal a golden hen, golden eggs, and a golden harp. I am going to use the later portions in my other stories, so I chose to leave them out of this one. I also omitted a lot of the dialogue between Jack and the old man and Jack and his mother. I felt that if Jack was retelling this story, then he would not necessarily have remembered the specifics of those conversations.