Briar and Rose and Jack

by Katherine Coville

  “No. We’re going to try something else. I brought Lady Briar instead.”

  “Oh,” Lan says. There is a long pause. “Well, it’s been nice knowing you, Jack. I’m sure you did the best you could.”

  “You don’t understand. Watch this,” Jack says, and moves over to allow Briar room.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” she says, “but here I go.” She squats down, grasps a bar in each fist, and pulls them in opposite directions for all she is worth. Bit by bit, the bars begin to bend. She strains and groans, and she can feel her face flushing red as the sinews in her arms and back tighten. She lets go of one bar and uses both hands to bend the other. Jack and Lan watch as the bar slowly yields to her efforts. Then she uses both hands on the other bar and pulls it wide aside until there is an open space between the bars that looks as if it could admit a man. Lan is jubilant, but then he says, “I can’t reach the window. Do you still have that rope?”

  “It’s right here,” Jack responds, tying one end of it firmly to a bar, then throwing the other end down to Lan. Lan is so weakened by hunger that he can’t climb up unaided. Instead he ties the rope around himself, and Briar and Jack pull him up.

  When he finally maneuvers through the bars, he gets to his feet unsteadily and envelops Jack and Briar in a great hug. Then he sits down, his legs too wobbly to stand.

  “Here, I’ve brought you something,” says Jack, opening his knapsack. He hands Lan a flask full of water and watches while Lan greedily gulps it down. Then Jack gets out some bread and cheese. While Lan eats, Briar tells him all about the curse that Rose is under and warns him that she may be in an enchanted sleep.

  “Only true love’s kiss can awaken her,” Briar says, sharing a secret smile with Jack.

  “I hope I do get the chance to kiss her, even if I should be thrashed for daring to kiss a princess!”

  “Can you walk now?” Jack asks. “I’m goin’ around to the back door and see if the giant woman is up yet. She said she starts work before dawn. If she’s in a good temper, we can fill up our bags with treasure to take back. An’ if our luck holds, maybe she can help me lure the giant to his doom!”

  “I’m feeling much better,” Lan assures him, finishing off the last of the bread. “I think I’m strong enough now. Let’s go.”

  The trio heads off toward the back of the house, staying close to the base of the wall. They maneuver around the corner and into a position near the giant-size back door. Jack can make out a light in an open window next to the door, and with a courage born of desperation, he shouts, “Hello!”

  There is a tense pause as they wait to hear a response; then the large face of the giant’s woman appears at the window, a face with a blackened eye. In a loud whisper she says, “Who’s that?” Then, making out Jack and the others in the moonlight, she adds, “You again! Are you looking to get killed? Get away from this place while you still can!”

  “Let us in!” answers Jack. “I need to talk to you!”

  The face disappears from the window. For a minute they wait anxiously to see what she will do, but the door opens a crack and the three squeeze through. They see that her hands are covered with flour and there are lumps of bread dough rising on the table.

  “I see you’ve freed the prisoner,” the giantess says, picking up several pieces of firewood and adding them to the oven. “You’d better be gone before Himself wakes up. He’ll be enraged when he finds him gone! He’ll hunt you down, even with one eye, and I’ll be cooking you all with onions for his supper tomorrow. Or worse, he’ll blame me, and I hate to think what he’ll do to me. He gave me this black eye when he found that gold missing. He’s merciless!”

  “How would you like to be free of him forever?” asks Jack boldly.

  The giantess looks taken aback, then says, “You mean . . .”

  “I mean forever.”

  A grin spreads slowly over her face, as if she has just discovered it is her birthday, and she rubs her hands together. “I told him! I told him no good would come of all his thievin’ and rampagin’! I warned him it would catch up with him, but NO! He wouldn’t listen . . . but still,” she says, suddenly very solemn, “you’ve got a mighty high opinion of yourself if you think you can win out over the giant.”

  “It’s not just me, Mistress. There’s a whole society of us dedicated to the giant’s downfall, and we’ve got a plan. If you could just help a little bit.”

  The giantess puts her finger to her lips and says, “Shh!” Then, turning to look cautiously over each shoulder, she bends down toward Jack and whispers, “What do you want me to do?”

  “You’ve seen that beanstalk growing over yonder?”

  “Yes? Where does it come from? It’s an oddity!”

  “Well, that’s the way we got up here. An’ that’s the way we’ll go back down. I’m sendin’ my friends down now, and then I’ll wait for the giant.”

  “No, Jack, we’re not going without you!” exclaims Lan.

  “Please, Jack, come with us now!” cries Briar.

  “Remember what I said before, Lady—I mean Briar. It’s a matter of honor. I’ve come this far, an’ I’ve got to see it through. Lan, when I come down, I’ll need to come down fast. I need you both to be out of the way. Just trust me.”

  Turning to the giantess, he says, “All you have to do is wait a while after sunup an’ tell him about me, tell him that I’ve taken his prisoner. Make sure he’s good an’ mad, then tell him I’ve gone down the beanstalk, so he’ll come after me. We’ll do the rest.”

  “Just as you say. Lucky for you, I was already up making the bread. The sun will rise soon. I can take my time serving him breakfast. When he’s done eating, he makes that silly harp sing for him. I’ll send him after you then, if that’s what you really want. It’s your skin. But I’d say the giant has more sense than to climb onto that flimsy beanstalk!”

  “That’s why I have to lure him down after me.”

  “If he’s enraged enough, that might just work, but you’re crazy to try it!”

  “If my luck holds, I’ll be all right. An’, Mistress, if you please, if there’s any more of that stolen treasure you’d like to get rid of, we’d be happy to take it off your hands.”

  “Yes, take it! Take it all! I don’t care if he does beat me! That will surely send him down the beanstalk after you! Take away that hen that lays the golden eggs. That’ll make him boiling mad! And that loudmouthed singing harp, be sure and take that! I’d better gag her for you first. The brainless thing has had no more sense than to bond to her new master, evil as he is. She might raise a ruckus. I’ll go and get them.”

  “Briar? Lan? What can you carry? We’ve got my knapsack and your knapsack, Briar, and we have the rope. You’d better not try to carry much, Lan. You’re still weak, and it’s a long climb down.”

  “We can put the hen in my knapsack,” suggests Briar. “She might not like it, but she’ll be safe there.”

  “Then let me take the knapsack with the hen,” Lan insists. “She can’t be very heavy.”

  “I can take the gold in the other knapsack,” Briar offers. “I don’t mind the weight.”

  They discuss just how Jack can carry the harp while the giantess goes off on her mission. She returns, tiptoeing, the hen gently cradled in one arm. Petting the bird soothingly with her big fingers, she sets her down in front of the three adventurers. Briar immediately crouches low and takes over the petting, clucking softly to the hen. “I think we’d better wait until we’re back at the beanstalk to stuff her in the knapsack,” she warns them. “She might put up a fuss.”

  The giantess disappears twice more, bringing back two bags of treasure and then the singing harp, bound and gagged as the giantess had promised. The harp is about as tall as Jack’s arm is long, and it takes some doing to tie her firmly to Jack’s back. He makes sure that he can reach the harp’s head over one shoulder. Fortunately, there’s a lot of rope and the harp is not too heavy.

  The treasures all secured
, Jack has one last word for the giantess. “Remember, wait awhile after sunup—”

  “Yes. He’ll be finishing his breakfast by then, and demanding his harp. When he sees it’s missing, he’ll just about explode, and then I’ll tell him you’ve got it, and where you’ve gone! Good luck to you, is all I can say.” Briar notices that the giantess’s chin quivers a bit and her eyes look suspiciously moist. “Goodbye. You’re a brave lot, and if your plan doesn’t succeed, well, I’ll never forget that you tried.” She turns away and makes herself busy, bending over the laundry so her face won’t show. Briar and Lan don the knapsacks, Jack adjusts the horn hanging around his neck, and Briar hugs the hen close to her as they quietly step out the door into the predawn gloom and make their way back to the beanstalk.

  Once there, Jack turns to Lan and says, “I’ll say goodbye to you now, friend. I’ll be waiting here until sunrise, an’ then I’ll start down. That should give me a head start on the giant. I’ll stay near enough for him to see and hear me, so I can taunt him into coming down the beanstalk after me. The rest of the Giant Killers are at the foot of the beanstalk, waiting for my signal to chop the thing down, but I want you and Briar to go straight on to the castle and see about Rose. Don’t wait for me!”

  “If that’s what you want,” Lan replies, offering Jack his hand. Jack clasps it firmly, and the two shake in silent comradeship.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Lan says, smiling bravely and clapping Jack on the back.

  “Aren’t you the one who faced the giant single-handed and put a rock in his eye?”

  “Well, now that you mention it . . .”

  Jack and Lan share an ironic laugh; then Lan grabs on to the twining beanstalk and, looking down to the earth far below, exclaims, “Whoa!” He pulls back, summoning his nerve to try again.

  Briar turns to Jack. “I can’t just leave you now! I’m staying with you!”

  “You’d only be making it harder for me. Once the giant starts after me, I’ll have to get down the beanstalk as fast as I can. Having another person with me would make it much more difficult. I don’t know how I’ll find the will to do it anyway unless I know you’re safe. Besides, you don’t know what the gray fairy may have in store for you back at the castle. Lan’s still very weak. He may need your help. Promise me you’ll go directly to the castle.”

  Briar bows her head and squeezes her eyes tightly shut, trying not to cry, but she says softly, “I promise.”

  Lan, inspired by Jack’s words, takes a deep breath and cautiously begins his descent.

  Briar immediately wants to take back her promise, but she can’t disappoint Jack. He expects her to be brave. Jack gently lifts her chin. “Remember the Giant Killers’ code of honor. Hold on to your hope. My luck has held so far. With a little more of it I’ll be back down to earth while the giant’s still far above me. Then we’ll chop down the beanstalk, and that will be the end of him. That’s worth taking a risk for, isn’t it?”

  Briar only looks at him, a tear making its way down her cheek. Jack, not quite as tall as she is, tilts his head up to her and expresses all his love for her in one galvanizing kiss. Briar, new to this, quickly learns to kiss him back. Sparks seem to fly, birds seem to sing, bells seem to ring. For a brief but glorious time they make their own magic, and then finally they part.

  “Go now,” Jack says, his voice cracking. Briar nods, and with tears blurring her vision, she climbs onto the beanstalk and slowly begins her descent.

  * * *

  It is a long trip down, and it has grown more treacherous. As the massive plant matures, hundreds of curling tendrils have sprouted here and there from the immense vines. The smallest are the length of a hand or foot, but some have grown into great coils, several feet long, as tough as wood, with pointed tips like spikes. They catch in the clothing and hair and sometimes even grip a carelessly placed shoe. Briar and Lan make their way down haltingly, helping each other get free of the snags. By the time they are halfway down, there is a pale pastel pink glowing above the horizon. Briar pauses and looks back up at the edge of the cloud where Jack waits. For a moment she remembers their kiss and wonders, with a stabbing pain through her heart, if she will ever see him again.

  * * *

  Shivering with cold in the whipping wind, Jack watches the eastern sky, his nerves poised for action like a racehorse held at the starting line. At last a sliver of sun peers over the mountain, its first simmering rays warming his face. Taking several deep breaths, he whispers to himself, “Now,” and the racehorse is off.

  Jack grabs tightly to the beanstalk and maneuvers down it with alacrity, concentrating only on the movement of one arm, the other, one leg, the other, until he achieves a kind of rhythm. He concentrates so fiercely that there is no room in his thoughts for fear or doubts, no room for reflections on his newfound love and how much he has to lose. The curling tendrils reach out to catch and scratch him, but he disentangles himself and pushes past them. On and on he toils, looking up at intervals to calculate the distance he has put between himself and the edge of the cloud. How far should he go? Can he lure the giant to his doom from here? Would the giant still be able to see him and hear him? Feeling uncertain, he stops. Better to make sure the distance is not too great, even if it doesn’t give him much of a head start. He sits himself on an enormous leaf and settles in to wait.

  Now thoughts crowd in on him. Can he really get down from here before the giant catches up with him, or before they both go crashing to the earth? He looks down at the ground, where a patchwork in shades of green shimmers in the morning light, and he thinks . . . probably not. For a moment, he closes his eyes and considers all that has been good in his life. It is a short list, but now, at the top of it, there is Briar, returning his love, and he feels that his life has been complete.

  There is a noise from above, like the howling of a great dog, and a jolt of fear tears through Jack’s body. This is it. He climbs off the leaf and grabs onto the beanstalk, his palms already growing sweaty. Staring up into the cloud, he can make out the giant’s head peering over the edge of it, can hear him shouting down, “Thief! Blackguard! Canker blossom!”

  Jack pulls himself together. Summoning his loudest and most audacious tone, he shouts, “That’s me! Catch me if you can, you big oaf!”

  Outraged, the giant screams as he grabs the top of the beanstalk and shakes it.

  Jack is too far along the stalk for this to affect him, but he is desperate now to lure the giant to climb down after him. Feeling the weight of the harp he carries on his back, he suddenly gets an idea. Wedging himself securely between an enormous leaf and the beanstalk, he uses both hands to reach behind his left shoulder, where the harp’s head sticks up, and he fumbles with the gag that is tied around her mouth. By touch alone, he manages to pull the cloth away from her face. The second he does, she lets out a bloodcurdling screech.

  “Master! Help! Help me!”

  “Nyah-nyah!” Jack hollers to the giant. “I’m making off with your harp!”

  “Prepare to be dismembered, fool!” comes the reply.

  Jack sees the giant grab hold of the top of the beanstalk and wrap first one leg around it, then the other. As his full weight settles on the stalk, the slender tip of it that he clings to curves sideways in a great arc, away from the cloud, finally bending over to form an inverted U. The giant lets out a yell as he finds himself clinging upside down to one end of the U, bobbing back and forth in the wind. Farther down, where the beanstalk is thicker and stronger, Jack smiles. Maybe he has a chance after all. He begins his descent with quick, precise movements, ignoring the caterwauling of the harp in his ear. The curling tendrils poke and catch at him, but he deftly evades them as he makes his way farther and farther down.

  The giant is reduced to an upside-down, backward crawl, trying to make his way up to the top curve of the inverted U. His hot rage has turned to cold panic. His dull brain provoked into action, he finally perceives that there is no way now to get back up to
the cloud. He realizes too late that the beanstalk can barely hold his weight—indeed the bent-over stalk might snap at any moment and send him plummeting to his death. His only hope is to catch up to the little fiend on the vine below who caused all this. Then, when he gets close enough, he can dispatch him with a mighty kick. This is the single thought that keeps him going: with his enormous bulk hanging and swaying on the end of the beanstalk, though every muscle and ligament screams with the strain of holding on, he must live long enough to kill that thief!

  Jack makes the most of his advantage, stopping only to blow a mighty blast on his horn to signal the Giant Killers waiting for him below that the time has come to start chopping. But he is still so far away! Can they hear him? Everything depends on timing. How fast can he get down to the ground? How soon can the giant catch up with him? How high up will the giant be when the beanstalk comes crashing down? Will the fall be enough to kill him? Will Jack go down with him to his doom? He allows himself one last, sweet thought of Briar before focusing all his attention on his descent. The way is treacherous, and the race is on.

  Above him, the giant is making progress. But his size, which might have closed the distance between him and Jack with ease, has instead become his greatest weakness. Barely able to move his own weight, he has managed to establish a certain way of inching backwards, up toward the top of the U, sliding first his legs, then his hands, along the twisted stalk without releasing his grasp. He is making discernible progress. Though the larger pointed tendrils pierce his flesh, he seems oblivious to anything that might hinder him in his goal. In his mind there is room for only two things: the vine he clings to and the thieving devil he seeks to catch.

  Jack is in a dash for his life. Down he goes, while the sun ascends in the sky and the giant seems to be making progress back up the U. Jack’s nimble movements stop only long enough for him to give a few more desperate blasts on his horn. Do his friends hear him? Will they chop down the beanstalk in time? Or will the giant live to take out his wrath on the people of Wildwick? What then might the rampaging giant destroy? How many more might be killed? It is unthinkable. Jack cannot hope for a reprieve, yet he can’t give up.