The next second they heard Jumbeelia’s mother come into the room.

“I’m glad you’ve caught them,” she said, “But I’ve already done some cooking for you today. So don’t eat them now, or you’ll spoil your meal.”

The girl waited for her mother to leave, and then said, “Don’t tell mother I went down the beanstalk. She mustn’t know that I caught you that way, or I’ll be in trouble for breaking her rules.”

The boys nodded their heads. Even Poppet seemed to understand that the giant woman was more of a threat than the girl.

“I’ve had an idea,” said Stephen, as soon as the girl had gone out of the room, “Do you see those plastic railway tracks of Jumbeelia’s? We can unclip one section of track and use it as a slide to get from one stair to another, down the house and out to escape.”

Jumbeelia’s mother Megarre was pottering about in her bedroom. Inside her, the baby kicked. She was glad that Jumbeelia had caught the little boys, but was not able to eat one herself while she was expecting a baby. Megarre sat down on the bed and began thinking again about names. Woozly would be a nice name for a girl. It meant cuddly.

Her other daughters had lived up to her expectations, she reflected proudly, Ann had been the first to develop her mother’s natural interest in gobbling little boys. As for Jumbeelia, she was inclined to play with her captives first, and get around to eating them when it suited her. Megarre eventually lay down for a rest.

The next day, in the middle of the morning, it seemed that Jumbeelia and Megarre had gone out. Fortunately Jumbeelia’s bedroom door was open. The boys dragged a section of railway track out on to the landing. As Stephen had thought, it was just the right length to make a slide from the top stair to the one below. The giant house was very quiet.

“Poppet went down the slide first, followed by Carlo and then Stephen. Repositioning the railway track slide for every step, they went down in stages, and rounded the bend in the stairs. This gave them a view of the hall below. So very far below Carlo felt suddenly tired. Would this never end?

He had just reached the next stair, when he heard a door open. He turned around and froze. On the step above him, Stephen and Poppet froze too. Someone was coming down the stairs towards them. There was nowhere to hide. Now an enormous girl was standing above them … bending down … picking them up, not gently the way Jumbeelia did, but grabbing them roughly, Stephen and Poppet in one hand and Carlo in the other.

It was Ann. She had come home from boarding school the day before, and had now surprised the boys. She had them blinded by the grip of her hands, while she carried them somewhere, and then they fell into a sticky mess. They heard a noise starting up, and suddenly they were whirled around and around, forced to the outermost part of whatever they were in. Looking inwards, Stephen took stock of the whirling object that could not reach them, because they were kept at bay by centrifugal force.

“We’re in a blender, and this smells like cake mix,” said Stephen.

Finally the huge whirling device was switched off, and they saw Ann at the top, with a giant wooden ladle.

“Well children, I’m glad I found you,” she said, “This is one cake I’m not going to share.”

The more distressed the boys looked, the more Ann smiled. She ladled the cake mix into a cooking tray, and took particular delight in ladling the three boys in, one by one. Carlo held onto the edge of the spoon to steady his balance, still feeling a little giddy after their ordeal in the mixing bowl. The giantess Ann laughed. Carlo looked into her mouth until it closed again.

Ann put the finished cake mix tray into the oven and turned it on and closed the door.

“She’s really going to eat us,” said Carlo.