Saturday, March 23, 2024

Variants of "Jack and the Beanstalk" (ATU 328A)

Jack Seized the Hen by Warwick Goble (1923)

Ah, the tale of a plucky boy who climbs a plant that reaches the clouds! Storytellers have turned it into an SF novel, a TV miniseries, and a mural, among other things. If you want to adapt this tale then check out the classics:

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy and Folk Tales by E. S. Hartland

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Jack and the Beanstalk in What They Say in New England by Clifton Johnson

Jack and the Bean-pole in Tales from Maryland and Pennsylvania by Elsie Clews Parsons

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie Steel

Jack and the Bean-stalk in Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith

Jack and the Beanstalk in Mountain White Folk-Lore: Tales from the Southern Blue Ridge by Isabel Gordon Carter


Bonus: scholarly writings.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” by Humphrey Humphreys in The Study of Folklore.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” by William Desmonde in The Study of Folklore.

“Jack and the Beanstalk: An American Version” by Martha Wolfenstein in The Study of Folklore.

Jack In Two Worlds: Contemporary North American Tales and Their Tellers by William Bernard McCarthy.


For more information on the ATU acronym mentioned in the title, read this post.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Variants of "The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers" (ATU 451)

  "Six Swans" by Elenore Abbott in  Grimm's Fairy Tales . New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. A group of brothers are...