The boy lived in a miserable hovel with his grandfather, just beyond the town.
The boy’s life was wretched. There was never enough to eat and the old man was a brute. He was always telling the boy how stupid and worthless he was. There was never a kind word of any sort. Ever since he had gone to live with him he’d been mean to him. He was never actually beaten, but there was never a nice word for him either. He was given the hardest and dirtiest chores, with the old man saying that he was just too old to be doing anything for himself. The boy was a slave.
One day, the grandfather sent the boy into town with the last of his meagre coins to buy whatever food he could with it. He told him to be very careful with it as the money, as it was all he had.
The boy set off and was gone most of the day. When he returned, he was very excited. He couldn’t wait to tell his grandfather of their good fortune. He held out his hand with a big grin. In his palm were three beans. He explained with great enthusiasm that he had met this wonderful wizard who had told him about their magical properties. He was good enough to sell them to him. What a good deal it was! All they had to do was plant them…
The man stared at the beans with a disbelieving look. His eyes began to water and his face turned red. He became very angry. He was absolutely furious. He was beside himself with rage. He was livid. He was fuming. Finally, he exploded and in his terrible rage he tossed the beans out of the window and sent the boy straight to bed, although it was the middle of the afternoon.
It rained heavily overnight and the next morning the boy stood outside staring at the ground for a long time, at the spot where the beans had landed. His grandfather watched from the window shaking his head and still scowling.
After a while, when it was obvious that nothing magical had happened, the old man cursed him yet again through the window. The boy stopped pretending to be surprised, turned his back and smiled.
He had picked the beans up from the ground near a market stall and used the money to eat a hearty meal, followed by a large helping of ice cream.
The fact was, he just wanted to really, really upset the old sod!
