Jack and the Beanstalk

using idioms that start with on

Jack is a young, poor boy living with his widowed mother and a cow as their only source of income. They did not have any other business on the side. When the cow stops giving milk, Jack's mother tells him to take it to the market to be sold. On the way, Jack meets an old man who offers to make a trade. Jack wanted to know what the man had to throw on the table. The man said that he had magic beans in exchange for the cow, and Jack was on the fence about the trade but being a young silly boy, makes the trade anyway. When he arrives home without any money, his mother was on fire, throws the beans on the ground, and sends Jack to bed without dinner.

During the night, the magic beans cause a gigantic beanstalk to grow. The next morning, Jack climbs the beanstalk to a land high in the sky. He finds an enormous castle and sneaks in. Soon after, the castle's owner, a giant, returns home. He senses that Jack is nearby and he was on edge, and speaks a rhyme:

Fee-fi-fo-fum!

I smell the blood of an Englishman,

Be he alive, or be he dead,

I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

His wife wakes up and tells him he was mistaken. The giant says that he thought he was on the money but couldn't find anyone and since he was on a string with his wife he went to sleep. Before he fell asleep he said to himself perhaps I should go on the wagon because I must be drunk. When the giant falls asleep Jack thought maybe he should steal the bag of coins. He was really on the fence about stealing but when you don't have any food even stealing is on the table. He steals the bag of gold coins and thought he had better be on the wing, so he makes his escape down the beanstalk.

Jack climbs the beanstalk twice more. He learns of other treasures and steals them when the giant sleeps: first a goose that lays golden eggs , then a harp that plays by itself. He thought that everything was on the rail and that he had gotten away with his stolen goods. The giant was sleeping on edge and wakes up on fire . When he sees Jack on the wing with the harp and chases Jack who was on the run, down the beanstalk. Jack calls to his mother for an axe and before the giant reaches the ground, cuts down the beanstalk, causing the giant to fall to his death.

Jack and his mother live happily ever after, keeping it on the QT how they became rich because they knew that Jack stole from the giant because there was a law on the books about stealing from anyone, even giants. They lived the rest of their life on edge, worrying that someone would find out and they would have to go on the run.

Moral of the Story:

  Stealing is wrong, no matter who you steal from!

  Idioms in this Story:

on a string
on edge
on fire
on the books
on the fence
on the money
on the rail
on the run
on the table
on the wagon
on the wing
on the QT
on the side