The next day, Mrs Weaver met Keenan after school. Almost nobody used the back gate, and they were not noticed as they departed in Mrs Weaver’s cart, with the horses pulling it. She stopped the cart a fair way from the school in front of the beanstalk, which had a swing beside it.
Mrs Weaver invited Keenan to sit on the swing, and began to push it for a while, and then gave a strong tug on the rope above his head. High up in Brobdingnag, Mrs Grimble heard the bell ringing in her garden, walked out and began to slowly pull on the rope.
“Hold on tight,” said Mrs Weaver, as the swing carried the boy up out of her reach..
Keenan looked out, as the views of the countryside became more apparent to him, and he felt himself being carried up on the swing beside the static beanstalk. Eventually the swing was lifted through the clouds and into a giant garden, where he saw a beautiful giant lady.
“My name is Mrs Grimble. I’ve been engaged by Mrs Weaver to punish the naughtiest boys in her class. You must be one of them, or you wouldn’t be here now,” she said.
“I was naughty yesterday, I guess. But I thought she was letting me off,” said Keenan.
“It would have been harder to bring you here if she hadn’t let you think that,” said Mrs Grimble.
“What is the punishment going to be?” asked Keenan.
“Mrs Weaver has asked me to do something which I think will not only be a punishment for you, but will also be a great pleasure for me,” said Mrs Grimble, “I shall send my young Jack to the house next door, and then have you for tonight’s dinner. Mrs Weaver will have one less problem student in her class, and I will enjoy the meal I intend to make of you.”
It had all been planned far too effectively for Keenan to be able to get out of his predicament. He was soon resting on Mrs Grimble’s kitchen bench, until the giant woman was ready to take him to the table and eat him. He thought about the astounding news he had just learned. Mrs Weaver had actually decided that the most severe and most unexpected of punishments would be the means of solving the discipline problem in her class. To that end she had employed a giantess who ate boys for her own enjoyment in order to dispense the disciplinary measure.
Only at the beginning of that day, he had not even imagined that a giantess could have existed. Now he was going to be quite literally eaten by one. Mrs Grimble seemed quite amicable about the whole affair, which was not so surprising, he realised. After all, it had been Mrs Weaver whom his behaviour had annoyed in class. To Mrs Grimble, he realised, he was not the annoyance, but the pleasure to be enjoyed as she gobbled him down her eager throat.
As he made his way into Mrs Grimble’s mouth, he thought back to his previous conflicts with Mrs Weaver and knew that she’d won this one for sure. As he reached Mrs Grimble’s tummy, he wondered if she might well have eaten him, regardless of his guilt, if she’d had the opportunity.