Jack and the Beanstalk - Fighting the Giant

Jack and the Beanstalk is very likely the most famous fairy tale with a giant in the leading role. Jack is a boy who prefers actions to thoughts so he gets into trouble fast and hard. When he tries to sell a cow he ends with a fist of beans and his mother is furious.

But these beans are magical and a gigantic beanstalk grows out of them. Jack doesn't think much before climbing up to find a completely new land where a man-eating giant lives. This giant has a lot of gold and a few magical objects. Jack tries to steal everything and the giant eventually sees him.

The fairy tale ends with a race. Jack runs before the giant and climbs down the beanstalk. The giant follows him but Jack cuts the beanstalk and the giant falls to the ground. He is dead and Jack is rich.

All the scenes with the giant inspired numerous illustrators who created many beautiful pictures. We will present them in the alphabetical order of the artists.

Please note - as a special treat we have also included sketches of the unfinished illustrations by legendary Randolph Caldecott who died before he made them. They were meant to illustrate Hallam Tennyson's take on this popular fairy tale, rewritten in English Hexameters.

Richard Andre (1834-1907)