Long ago, in a far away land, a young woman named Jacqueline got up every day and milked the cow, picked vegetables from the garden, carried in wood and fired up the wood cook stove so her mother would prepare the morning meal.

Jacqueline hated the morning ritual. She hated the town she lived in, was born in, and grew up in. She spent each day dreaming of princes and castles and far away places. Anyplace away from Dullsville would do.

All the girls Jacqueline’s age were already married. Most of them had children or were expecting children. They did exactly what their parents did before them and their parents parents did before them. Ugh! That would be a fate worse than death.

Jacqueline’s father died a few years before. There was very little money left in the family cookie jar. Each year the garden harvested fewer and fewer vegetables and the cow was drying up. The kitchen curtains were faded and limp…everything was in need of repair or completely worn out.

One morning, after the chores were done and breakfast was out of the way, Jacqueline’s mother told her to take the cow to town and sell it. Jacqueline was reminded to get the best price possible and be careful coming home with the money.

Jacqueline only made it half way to town. She met a woman with magic beans. When Jacqueline told the woman that she had to have money for the cow, the woman asked, “Child, how could you be so foolish? This is the only opportunity you will ever have to leave Dullsville. Take these magic beans home and plant them by the light of moon. Not only will you become rich, but you’ll be able to travel as you wish. That is your heart’s desire isn’t it?”

That did it for Jacqueline. To be able to leave Dullsville was on the top of her list…to be rich on top of that…heavy sigh. Afraid the woman would change her mind, she almost ripped the beans from the woman’s fingers. She never looked back once she held the beans tightly in her grasp.

This was it! She ran for home, prancing and jumping, wondering how late it would be before the moon came out…then suddenly she remembered her mother. How would she explain that she had sold the cow for magic beans when she was supposed to be bringing home money? She slowed down to a crawl…what if the beans really weren’t magic?

She veered off the road and walked down to the Old Mill Pond where she sat underneath a tree until the sun slid behind the hills and she knew she had to face her mother, one way or another. She went home.

It was worse than she imagined. Her mother screamed, yelled, destroyed most of the dishes by throwing them into the wall, and then broke into uncontrollable sobbing. Jacqueline tried to explain that there was still a possibility that the beans were magic. In one final outburst, her mother took the handful of beans and threw them out the window with the ominous warning that Jacqueline would rue the day she sold the cow.

A very sad and deflated Jacqueline slid into bed. Her vision of leaving Dullsville was gone. Her last thought before sleep was facing starvation or marrying one of the village dolts just to survive.

She woke to a grating, popping noise which slowed to a soft swish and then back to the grating, popping sound. Jumping out of bed, she ran to the window. By the light of the full moon, Jacqueline watched in awe as a giant bean stalk kept pushing up out of the ground, climbing ever higher until it disappeared into the clouds by the moon.

She threw off her night dress and jumped into a shirt and coveralls…up the stalk she climbed. This was it. The woman had been right about the magic beans. She climbed and climbed, her arms and legs began to tire and ache. Once she looked down through the leaves below her…she quickly looked up again for the distance between her and the ground was frightening. Still she climbed. Just when she thought she couldn’t get enough air and she couldn’t move another inch, she reached the clouds. The dream of her dreams stood before her…a castle.

She ran to the castle and slipped across the drawbridge in time to see a strange assortment of creatures and people hurrying towards a doorway. Something bumped into her…muttering an apology, it said, “Hurry up. The game is starting, you don’t want to be late!”

“What game?” she asked. But whatever the creature was, it was already slipping through the doorway along with everyone else.

She hurried too, for no other reason than fear of being left out of whatever was happening. After all, this wasn’t Dullsville…something was going on here and everyone was interested. Her head snapped back and forth while her eyes tried to take in everything that lay before her as she stepped through the doorway.

The hall was huge…filled with row upon row of tables. An odd assortment of creatures and people were seated elbow to elbow at the tables…each had gold and silver coins in front of them and a deck of cards sat in the center of the table.

There were servers hustling and bustling back and forth, carrying trays of food, rolling in barrels of liquid refreshment. The hall was alive with sounds of conversation, food and drink being served, and the excitement of anticipation.

Suddenly Jacqueline felt the floor shake from the deafening clomp of giant feet. No one ran…they remained in their seats. Instead of fear, a look of excitement and expectation spread across everyone’s face. Jacqueline stood riveted waiting to see what would happen next.

The Giant thundered into the hall. “You all know the rules. High card by suit gets the deal and the choice of game. The deal moves around the table. When it’s your turn to deal, you choose the game. No fighting. No cheating. If I have to make a decision, you won’t like the outcome. The collection agent will be around every hour to collect playing fees from your game. Have your money ready. Good luck and enjoy the game.”

A player at each table spread the deck, each player drew a card, and the games were off and running.

Jacqueline jumped right in and helped carry food and drinks to the tables. She watched the action, the cards being dealt, the play of the hands, and the players as she moved around the room. Players handed her money when she sat down their food and drinks. She quickly learned to smile and hurried to serve the next person.

She was very excited as she slid down the bean stalk the next night and slipped into the house. She shoved a few garments into a bag, left the money she’d earned with a note for her sleeping mother, and climbed back up to the castle, managing to catch a few hours of sleep in the corner of the hall before the games began the following day.

She ran food and beverages faster than any of the other servers…stopping when time permitted and watching the games and the play. Several players talked to her about the games when they took a break. It wasn’t long before she had put together a tidy little sum of money and knew the games and rules well enough to take a seat and become a player.

She won! A flush of excitement spread across her cheeks when she pulled in her first pot with a pair of 7’s in 5 Card Draw. She won almost every time she played…she’d watched and learned. Every time she won, she took a small percentage and set it aside to build her playing bankroll. She didn’t want to go back to serving food and drinks or even worse, back to Dullsville.

Servers now ran to wait on her. She was given a room in the Castle with all amenities because she was a player. New players came in all the time…the games ran 24 hours a day…the castle was always alive with activity.

She still made trips down the Beanstalk to leave money for her mother. On one trip, Jacqueline learned a farmer from a neighboring town had asked for her mother’s hand…her mother had accepted. Relief flooded through Jacqueline, now she was really free to leave Dullsville.

One day Jacqueline met Merrick in a game. They became an item. They played the games, they won, they ate, they loved and laughed. Everything was provided for them because they were players. Life would never be any better than this.

One morning they arrived in the hall late. There were no games. Players were sitting around, wondering if the games would start and if they should play. Food and drink service was slow and poor.

The news was out – the Giant had taken a walk and found the Beanstalk. He decided to climb down it and a fearful lowlander chopped it down with the Giant on it. That was the end of the Giant and his Poker Kingdom.

Late in the afternoon a group of Trolls marched into the Hall and informed all the players that they would be running the games and everything would continue as before. The games started again but within a few days, the collection fees went up, the food servers were charging for certain foods and rooms were no longer free. Everything had changed. Grumbling and tension spread like wildfire amongst the players.

A few weeks later, word came from a traveling player that a new game was opening across the valley…Jacqueline and Merrick lived happily ever after.