Prologue
If fairy tales are to be believed, then a bean may grow into a beanstalk with a giant at the other end. These tales differ in the telling, but they always start in the same way. A boy sells a cow for some magic beans, and his mother, naturally outraged at such a transaction, throws the beans on the soil. There they grow, creating a ladder to another world. The boy climbs the beanstalk, explores the world in the sky and has many great adventures. But there are some tales told and retold so often that none can now remember whether or not they were once true.
Sometimes, a girl in a red coat gets lost in the woods and her family go in search of the big bad wolf that must have eaten her. Sometimes, a princess chokes on an apple and is revived with a kiss. In ever story can be found a grain of truth, powerful enough to harness the imagination of generations.
Somewhere, somehow, a way was opened to another world. The means of which was known only by a few, but there were some who saw themselves as pioneers, like the early American settlers, and they took their families and went to explore this brave new world. Perhaps for a time they were happy. But we know there is always a giant at the other end. And so the way was closed and the walls of the universe sealed, but still the legend persisted, and one day the magic beans were sold to a boy in exchange for a cow. What became of the boy in the world beyond depends on who is doing the telling. This is one telling; there will be many others. Only listen, and imagine.
