Jack, a poor country boy, trades the family cow for a handful of magic beans, which grow into an enormous beanstalk reaching up into the clouds. Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds himself in the castle of an unfriendly giant. The giant senses Jack's presence and cries,
Fee-fi-fo-fum!
I smell the blood of an English man.
Outwitting the giant, Jack is able to retrieve many goods once stolen from his family, including a bag of gold, an enchanted hen that lays golden eggs and a magic golden harp that plays and sings by itself.