The Giants and the Joneses by Julia Donaldson Read Free Book Online Page B

swallow. ‘It’s not a snake – it won’t bite me,’ she told herself She didn’t want to give Zab the pleasure of hearing her cry out.
    All the same, Zab laughed before tossing the worm away and starting to dig them out.
    ‘Listen,’ said Stephen urgently. ‘I’ve thought of a plan. You try and distract him, and I’ll hide the lawn mower.’
    ‘What for?’
    ‘Because then when we do manage to rescue Poppy and escape, we’ll have a getaway car.’
    Zab put them down on the path. They exchanged a look, and then Colette started to run.
    ‘Zabbadabbadee! You can’t catch me!’ she taunted the boy giant.
    But Zab didn’t seem to want to. He was fiddling about with a jam jar.
    ‘Get his attention! Do a little dance or something!’ Stephen egged her on.
    Colette hopped about and made faces, but still Zab showed no interest in her. Instead, he lifted Stephen up and put him into the jar.
    ‘Let him out!’ Colette cried, suddenly fearful. She ran back up the path.
    Stephen was in the circular glass tank, looking white. He wasn’t alone. A black-and-yellow stripy creature was crawling up the side of the huge jam jar.
    It was a giant wasp, and it was nearly half Stephen’s size.
    Zab reached in and prodded the wasp with a pin. It buzzed angrily, and Zab handed the pin to Stephen. He took it with a shaking hand.
    ‘Kraggle! Kraggle! Kraggle!’ shouted Zab.
    The wasp tried to fly out of the jam jar but Zab was too quick for it, and screwed the lid on.
    ‘Don’t do that! They need air!’ Colette shouted, as if Zab could understand.
    Then she watched in horror as the wasp flew round the jar. She could see something sharp sticking outof its tail end. It was the tip of a sting.
    Still buzzing, the maddened creature bumped into the side of the jar, and then it bumped into Stephen.
    Stephen fell on to his back, dropping the pin and letting out a cry.
    Colette stood helplessly outside the glass and saw the wasp land on his face. She knew that the whole sting would be as long and sharp as a dagger. If the wasp pierced him with it he would surely die.
    ‘The pin, Stephen! Get the pin!’ she urged him. It was lying on the floor of the jar. Keeping his body as still as he could, Stephen reached out and grabbed it.
    The wasp raised its tail end. The sting was poised to plunge into Stephen’s chest. He gasped and his eyelids closed.
    ‘Don’t give up now!’ cried Colette.
    Stephen opened his eyes. Gritting his teeth, he lunged out with the pin. The tip of it speared the underside of the wasp and bore the creature into the air above him. As the sting shot out of it, he hurled the pin away from him and scrambled to his feet.
    The wasp writhed on the floor of the jar, still skewered by the pin.
    Stephen backed away and sat down against the glass wall. He was panting and he looked even whiter than before.
    The wasp stopped writhing. It was dead.
    Zab clapped. He unscrewed the lid of the jar and seemed about to remove Stephen, but then changed his mind. ‘Tweeko!’ he cried, and he was off again.
    ‘Stephen, are you all right?’ asked Colette, pressing herself against the outside of the jar. She was trembling. How she wished she could climb the steep glass and reach him.
    ‘Yes, but you’ll have to see to the lawn mower,’ said Stephen faintly. ‘Hide it under a flower pot.’
    ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ she said.
    ‘You must. Think about Poppy. She won’t be able to walk all the way to the beanstalk.’
    Zab was over by the garden wall. He didn’t notice Colette dragging the plastic flower pot towards the lawn mower. It wasn’t as heavy as she’d feared. Her hands were still shaking as she lifted a section of theflower pot as high as she could, positioned it over the lawn mower and let it fall.
    She was afraid that the clatter would alert Zab, but he had returned to the jam jar and seemed intent on whatever was going on inside it.
    Gripped by dread, Colette tiptoed back and saw what Zab found so