Then they climbed a winding stair and reached a bright, cozy kitchen. Jack was just beginning to enjoy himself, when suddenly there was a great pounding at the front door. "Quick, quick!" cried the Giant's wife; "jump into the oven." Jack was no sooner safely hidden than he heard the Giant say, in tones of thunder: "Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" When Jack heard this he thought surely the Giant knew that he was in the house, but the wife said calmly: "Oh, my dear, it is probably the people in the dungeon." Then they both came down to the kitchen. The Giant sat so close to the oven that by peeping through a hole, Jack could easily see him. He _was enormous_! And how much he did eat and drink for his supper! When at last he was through, he roared: "Wife, bring me my hen!" And the woman brought in a beautiful hen. "Lay!" commanded the Giant; and what was Jack's surprise when the hen laid a golden egg. Every time the Giant said: "Lay!"--and he said it many times--the hen obeyed. At last both the woman and her husband fell asleep. But Jack did not dare to sleep. He sat all cramped and tired in the oven, watching the Giant. When it began to get light he slowly pushed the oven door open and crawled out ever so softly. For a minute he hardly dared breathe for fear of waking the Giant. Then quick as a flash, he seized the hen and stole out of the house as fast as his feet could carry him. He did not stop running until he reached the beanstalk. All out of breath, he climbed down the ladder with the hen in his arms. Now, all this time, Jack's poor mother thought her son was surely lost. When she saw him she said: "Oh, Jack, why did you go off and leave me like that?" "But, mother," said Jack--and proudly he held out the hen--"see what I have brought you this time: a hen that lays golden eggs. Now we can have everything we want. You need never be sad any more." Jack and his mother were very happy together for many months. Whenever they wanted anything, they just told the hen to lay a golden egg. But after a while Jack remembered his promise to the Fairy to punish the Giant. So he said to his mother: "Mother dear, I think I will go back and get some more of our treasure from the Giant." The poor woman felt very bad when her son said this. "Oh, please do not go, Jack," she begged. "This time the Giant will find you and kill you for stealing his hen." Jack decided he would not worry his mother, but he would find a way to fool the Giant. He got some paint to color his skin brown and had a queer suit of clothes made so that no one could discover who he was. Without telling anyone, he got up early one morning and climbed up the beanstalk. It was dark and cold before he reached the Giant's house. There at the front door was the Giant's wife; but she did not know Jack in his queer clothes. "Good evening, Lady," said Jack, very politely. "Will you let me in for a night's rest? I am very tired and hungry."