What is the moral of Jack and the Beanstalk?

What that actually means

Jack is not clever and he is not careful. He is brave in the specific way that means he does the frightening thing before he has finished thinking about it, and that works three times running. The story is usually read as a boy outwitting a giant. It is really about the third climb: he already has enough, he goes anyway, and the only reason it ends well is the giant's wife. Being lucky three times is not the same as being right, and the tale is quietly honest about that.

What happens in the story

Jack is sent to sell the last cow and comes home with five beans. His mother throws them out of the window. In the morning there is a beanstalk going up through the clouds, and Jack, who has never once thought a thing through, starts climbing.

Questions to ask afterwards

The lesson lands better when a child works it out themselves.

1. Jack swapped a cow for five beans. Was that a foolish thing to do, or a brave one?
2. The giant's wife hides Jack three times, even after she knows what he is doing. Why?
3. Jack already had the gold when he went back the second time. Why do you think he kept going?
4. Is taking things from the giant stealing? Does it matter that the giant is frightening?
5. What is the difference between being brave and not thinking first?