In Brobdingnag, Mrs Grimble’s daughter Serena continued to date the Pied Pipe Eddy for decades. When the couple were in their mid to late 30s, the Pied Pipe Eddy discovered by accident, that playing a certain combination of notes would enlarge him to giant size for just one hour, along with his pipe. Using this to their advantage, Pipe Eddy and Serena were able to have a baby daughter named Dorinda, which made Mrs Grimble a grandmother. As the girl was growing up, Mrs Grimble would tell her stories of how she had caught little boys and even had the pleasure of eating some of them.

Although Serena had no interest in eating boys, thanks to her grandmother’s influence, Dorinda grew up willing to capture and eat little boys too. She made sure that her daughter was raised to do the same thing. Over the centuries, the Grimble house was passed down through the generations, until it was still owned by one of their Mrs Grimble’s descendants, namely Megarre, in the year 1954.

Down in the woods near the bottom of Jack’s beanstalk, Carlo Comet was thinking of walking to the village and buying something to add to his book collection. However, he would not do it that day, because he was about to be collected himself. Carlo was 10, and he ran into two of his friends in the woods: 14 year old Stephen Jones and 6 year old Poppet Hess. They all stopped and sat down on a log to talk.

In Brobdingnag, Megarre’s second daughter Jumbeelia was 14, and had heard the stories from her mother and grandmother about the little boys that would sometimes come to Brobdingnag. When she had been little, she had learned that nobody had ever chased a little boy down the beanstalk, as it would not support the weight of a Brobdingnag girl. However, Jumbeelia determined to test this for herself. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to just try stepping onto the beanstalk, since it was still a nice easy safe jump from the edge of her garden.

Thank goodness her big sister Ann was away at boarding school. Ann was 16. Jumbeelia reached the edge and saw the mist, and yes. Surely there was something looming out of the mist.

‘The Beanstalk,” she murmered, full of wonder. Jumbeelia reached out and touched the damp cool floppy leaf, and then found her hand curling around a thick firm stalk.

It was the loveliest thing she had ever seen or felt.

So it was true. Then her feet followed her hands. Down she climbed, down, down down through the clouds. Her mother Megarre had not guessed that, over the centuries, the beanstalk had grown wider and stronger and more dense. It could now support the weight of a Brobdingnag giantess without any difficulty.

When she was out of the clouds, Jumbeelia could see spread out below her, a patchwork of green fields with darker green blobs which must be woods, and threads of cotton (or so they appeared to a giant girl) which were in fact paths and roads. When she reached the bottom, she noticed something much more wonderful. Peeking down into the woods, she saw some small creatures the size of … well they were very small.

“Little boys!” she realised.

Jumbeelia took her collecting bag off her back and reached in with her giant pink fingers. She clasped them around Stephen Jones, and lifted him up and put him into the bag. Then she did the same with Carlo Comet.

“Where are we?” Stephen’s voice sounded shaky, and his face was white.

Carlo looked around at the blue canvas walls of their prison. He shuddered, remembering the huge pink fingers that had put him there.

“I think we’re in a giant girl’s bag,” he whispered back.

“Don’t talk rubbish. Giant’s don’t exist,” said Stephen.

But the next second they saw the giant hand above them, with Poppet Hess in its grip. Poppet was laughing.

“Big girl, do it again,” he said, as the giant hand released him. He seemed to think that this was some new kind of glorious fairground ride.

“It’s not a girl. It’s a giantess, silly,” Stephen snapped at her, “She’s probably going to eat us.”