<P> "Jack and the Beanstalk" is the best known of the "Jack tales", a series of stories featuring the archetypal Cornish and English hero and stock character Jack . </P> <P> According to researchers at the universities in Durham and Lisbon, the story originated more than 5,000 years ago, based on a widespread archaic story form which is now classified by folkorists as ATU 328 The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure . </P> <P> Jack is a young, poor boy living with his widowed mother and a dairy cow, on a farm cottage, the cow's milk was their only source of income . When the cow stops giving milk, Jack's mother tells him to take her to the market to be sold . On the way, Jack meets a bean dealer who offers magic beans in exchange for the cow, and Jack makes the trade . When he arrives home without any money, his mother becomes angry and disenchanted, throws the beans on the ground, and sends Jack to bed without dinner . </P> <P> During the night, the magic beans cause a gigantic beanstalk to grow outside Jack's window . The next morning, Jack climbs the beanstalk to a land high in the sky . He finds an enormous castle and sneaks in . Soon after, the castle's owner, a giant, returns home . He senses that Jack is nearby by smell, and speaks a rhyme: </P>

Moral of the story jack and the beanstalk