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Zachariah Thumblemyer lived with his mom at the edge of Huckleberry Beach.
Excited, he scooted to Huckleberry Beach and began reading. However a truck unloaded a huge pile of sand beside him.
"Come on kid! I'll help," yelled a lady with a bulldozer.
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| Before he could finish, the giant scooped him up and returned to his castle. He tossed Zack into a large cage, and ate his dinner.  "I'll eat you later," he said with a belch.Zack fell on his knees and begged,"Spare me! Spare me!" The giant dragged his chair closer and demanded, "Then give me my gold!" Zack pleaded,"I'm Zack not Jack. Jack's the one that took your gold." But Zack's pleading only infuriated the giant who roared even louder making Zack weep. Each tear though softened the giant's heart till he mellowed and said,"I'll give you one day but if by sundown you haven't found my gold, I'll keep you forever."  |
Reluctantly, Zack agreed to help and soon they built the biggest sandcastle one could imagine. It towered into the clouds but gave Zack a funny feeling.
A hideous giant burst open the door. Snarling like a mad dog, he pointed right at Zack.
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At the bottom, beside the ragged beanstalk, was a busy store called 'Jack's Bean Store'. Zack observed that Jack was rich but very tough. He even had a gang of thugs.Nervously entering the store, Zack found Jack selling beans. Zack explained his problem to Jack.Then pleaded,"Give me the gold! I know you took it! I've read your story!" "The gold is mine and mine alone," yelled Jack."Get out or I'll throw you in jail!" Bewildered, Zack left the store sadly."I'll never get the giant's gold," he whimpered. |
 Shuffling along the road, his stomach burned with hunger.Shortly he met a beautiful woman carrying a potful of stew. Smelling the scrumptious meal, he begged,"could you spare but a morsel?" But the women warned, "Food I can give you but your safety is rare. With Jack as my husband, you need to be scared. Leave quick! Or you'll be seen by my husband who's mean!" Everything seeming hopeless, Zack wept bitterly. Fortunately, Jack's wife having a kind heart, felt sorry for Zack, and recanted saying, "Come on in. I'll give you a meal. But beware of my husband! His thugs will chop you up like the beanstalk." |
Zack left the giant and frantically searched the castle.| Although scared, Zack's stomach cried louder than his trembling hands. So he entered the house and ate. No sooner had he gobbled down the meal, when a bang came at the door. "Gracious me!" screamed Jack's wife. "It's my husband!" Frightened out of his skin, Zack leaped into the oven and peeked through the door. Jack and his thugs rushed into the room and demanded,"whose plate is this?" "No one," laughed his wife nervously."Now sit, eat and forget such nonsense." Believing his wife, Jack told his thugs to leave and ate a good meal.  Then comfortably sitting back ordered,"Fetch me my gold!"His wife quickly brought him five bags of gold and laid them at his feet. Zack peeked through the door and spied Jack selfishly count it. Piling the gold high, Jack tired, closed his eyes and fell asleep. Zack desperately needed the gold so he crept carefully from the oven and tiptoed over to Jack.As quickly and quietly as he could, Zack grabbed a bag and fled out the door. Running all the way to the web though, Zack weakened. Nevertheless he pushed himself and dragged the gold up. |
| Finally arriving before the giant, he collapsed. " Where's my gold?" bellowed the giant."You're late!" With bulging muscles, Zack threw the gold at the giant's feet, then fainted exhausted to the floor.  When Zack awoke, he saw the giant sleeping by his bags of gold. Zack stared at the gold sparkling in the twilight. He dreamed of being rich. Zack decided to steal Jack's gold.Like a hunting tiger, he crawled along the floor. Snatching a bag of gold, he slung it over his shoulder and raced for the door. But the bag had a hole and the gold clanged noisily to the floor. |
| The giant woke up at once and roared like a lion. Zack, realizing his efforts were in vain, dropped the bag and dashed out the castle door with the giant close behind.  "Fee Fi Fo Fum!" boomed the giant."I'll crush your bones!"Zack climbed up the walls of the castle. Being a good climber, he reached the top quickly. Zack looked down and saw the giant plodding up after him. "Come and get me if you can," teased Zack with a plan. The giant growled and worked his way faster to the top while Zack climbed silently down the other side. Zack leaped to the ground, as the giant stood snorting out of breath, on the castle's top. |
 However that was right where Zack wanted him for he grabbed a water hose and hit the bottom of the castle with bursting gushes of water. Each gush chopped a gaping hole into the bottom of the castle. He chopped and chopped till the walls began to crumble.Teetering back and forth, the mighty giant fell into collapsing sand. The castle flattened into an enormous pancake of mud and the giant began to melt. |
 He swirled around and around in a tornado of spinning colours, then disappeared into the sand.Zack couldn't believe it. He looked at the glistening sand and listened to the splashing waves. Huckleberry Beach was back. "Finally no more sandcastles or giants!" sighed Zack as he flopped into his lawnchair and picked up his storybook. Instantly Zack slammed the book shut."I'm never reading Jack and the Beanstalk!" he said with a shiver. Zack left and went home very frightened, especially to read. |
 In time though, he missed reading and returned to Huckleberry Beach. This time he chose a story with no giants. A safe story. A story about a little girl with a red hood, visiting her grandma."Surely nothing could go wrong with this story?" |
Story & Music © John Rickey 1997.
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