"Good-morning," replied Jack, with a polite bow, wondering how the queer little old man happened to know his name; though, to be sure, Jacks were as plentiful as blackberries. "And where may you be going?" asked the queer little old man. Jack wondered again--he was always wondering, you know--what the queer little old man had to do with it; but, being always polite, he replied: "I am going to market to sell Milky-White--and I mean to make a good bargain." "So you will! So you will!" chuckled the queer little old man. "You look the sort of chap for it. I bet you know how many beans make five?" "Two in each hand and one in my mouth," answered Jack readily. He really was sharp as a needle. "Just so, just so!" chuckled the queer little old man; and as he spoke he drew out of his pocket five beans. "Well, here they are, so give us Milky-White." Jack was so flabbergasted that he stood with his mouth open as if he expected the fifth bean to fly into it. "What!" he said at last. "My Milky-White for five common beans! Not if I know it!" "But they aren't common beans," put in the queer little old man, and there was a queer little smile on his queer little face. "If you plant these beans over-night, by morning they will have grown up right into the very sky." Jack was too flabbergasted this time even to open his mouth; his eyes opened instead. [Illustration: As he spoke he drew out of his pocket five beans] "Did you say right into the very sky?" he asked at last; for, see you, Jack had wondered more about the sky than about anything else. "_RIGHT UP INTO THE VERY SKY_" repeated the queer old man, with a nod between each word. "It's a good bargain, Jack; and, as fair play's a jewel, if they don't--why! meet me here to-morrow morning and you shall have Milky-White back again. Will that please you?" "Right as a trivet," cried Jack, without stopping to think, and the next moment he found himself standing on an empty road. "Two in each hand and one in my mouth," repeated Jack. "That is what I said, and what I'll do. Everything in order, and if what the queer little old man said isn't true, I shall get Milky-White back to-morrow morning." So whistling and munching the bean he trudged home cheerfully, wondering what the sky would be like if he ever got there. "What a long time you've been!" exclaimed his mother, who was watching anxiously for him at the gate. "It is past sun-setting; but I see you have sold Milky-White. Tell me quick how much you got for her." "You'll never guess," began Jack. "Laws-a-mercy! You don't say so," interrupted the good woman. "And I worriting all day lest they should take you in. What was it? Ten pounds--fifteen--sure it _can't_ be twenty!" Jack held out the beans triumphantly. "There," he said. "That's what I got for her, and a jolly good bargain too!" It was his mother's turn to be flabbergasted; but all she said was: "What! Them beans!"