HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Jack (hero)
OR:
Jack (hero) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

__NOTOC__ Jack is an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
hero and archetypal
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of s ...
appearing in multiple
legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...
s, fairy tales, and
nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...
s.


Examples of Jack tales

Some of the most famous Jack Tales are "
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole ...
", "
Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, a ...
", "
Jack the Giant Killer "Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore ...
", "
Little Jack Horner "Little Jack Horner" is a popular English nursery rhyme with the Roud Folk Song Index number 13027. First mentioned in the 18th century, it was early associated with acts of opportunism, particularly in politics. Moralists also rewrote and expa ...
" and "
This Is the House That Jack Built "This Is the House That Jack Built" is a popular English nursery rhyme and cumulative tale. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20854. It is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 2035. Lyrics This is perhaps the most common set of modern ly ...
". While these heroes are not necessarily congruous, their concepts are related and in some instances interchangeable.


Nature

Jack is generally portrayed as a young adult. Unlike moralizing fairy heroes, Jack is often lazy or foolish, but emerges triumphant through wit and trickery, resembling the
trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise ...
or rebel archetypes. Some of the stories feature Jack's brothers, Will and Tom. The notional "Jack" corresponds with the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
Hans (or Hänsel) and the
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
Ivan the Fool Ivan the Fool () or Ivan the Ninny is a lucky fool stock character who appears in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but, nevertheless, lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth. The approximate s ...
. Some Jack tales feature themes that appear to originate from Germanic folk tales.


Jack tales in Appalachia

"Jack tales" are present in Appalachian folklore. As noted by the folklorist
Herbert Halpert Herbert Halpert (August 23, 1911 – December 29, 2000) was an American anthropologist and folklorist, specialised in the collection and study of both folk song and narrative. Biography Herbert Norman Halpert's interest in folklore emerge ...
, the Appalachian Jack tales are analogous to many of the folk songs of Appalachia, being passed on orally rather than in writing, and tracing back to sources in England. In the Appalachian Jack tales, where the English original would feature a king or other noble, the Appalachian Jack tale version would have a sheriff. In his book ''The Jack Tales'' American folklorist
Richard Chase Richard Trenton Chase (May 23, 1950 – December 26, 1980) was an American serial killer, cannibal, and necrophile who killed six people in the span of a month in 1977 and 1978 in Sacramento, California. He was nicknamed The Vampire of Sac ...
collected many popular Appalachian Jack tales as told by descendants of a man named Council Harmon (1803–1896), whose grandfather Cutliff Harmon (1748–1838) was believed by Chase to have brought the Jack tales to America. One notable descendant of Council Harmon known for the telling of Jack Tales was Ray Hicks, whose relatives continue to keep the oral tradition alive. The Harmon-Hicks family are also known for their unique repertoire of traditional British folk ballads.


See also

* Jack (name) *
Jack Be Nimble "Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.1882 Lyrics The most common version of the rhyme is: :Jack be nimble, :Jack be quick, :Jack jump over :The candlestick I. Opie and P. Opie ...
*
Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, a ...
*
Jack Frost (Marvel Comics) Jack Frost is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in 1941 in '' U.S.A. Comics'' published by Marvel's 1940s forerunner Timely Comics, during the period fans and histori ...
*
Jack Horner (comics) Jack Horner is a fictional character in the comic book series ''Fables'' by Bill Willingham. His first appearance was in issue #1 of ''Fables,'' and he continued as a regular character of the series until leaving the series for his own title, '' ...
*
Jack Sprat "Jack Sprat" (or "Jack Spratt") is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19479. Rhyme The most common modern version of the rhyme is: Origins The name "Jack Sprat" was used of people of small stature in t ...
*
Jack and His Comrades Jack and his Comrades is a short Irish fairy tale describing the title character's story of success with the help of his animal helpers, collected by folklorist Patrick Kennedy from a resident of County Wexford, Ireland, and published in ''Legen ...
*
Jack and His Golden Snuff-Box Jack and His Golden Snuff-Box is a Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''. He listed as his source Francis Hindes Groome's ''In Gypsy Tents''. Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in '' The Red King and the Witch: ...
*
Jack and Jill "Jack and Jill" (sometimes "Jack and Gill", particularly in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the commonest tune and its variations as number 10266, although it has been set to severa ...
*
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole ...
*
Jack in the green Jack in the Green, also known as Jack o' the Green, is an English folk custom associated with the celebration of May Day. It involves a pyramidal or conical wicker or wooden framework that is decorated with foliage being worn by a person as par ...
*
Jack o' Kent Jack o' Kent or Jack-a-Kent is a Welsh folkloric character based in the Welsh Marches. He is alternately referred to as either a cleric or wizard who regularly beats the Devil in bets and games. He is most well known around Herefordshire and Mo ...
*
Jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomen ...
*
Jack of all trades, master of none "Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a person who has dabbled in many skills, rather than gaining expertise by focusing on only one. The original version "a jack of all trades" is often used as a compl ...
*
Jack the Giant Killer "Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore ...
*
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...
*
Spring-heeled Jack Spring-heeled Jack is an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lo ...
*
Stingy Jack Stingy Jack O'Lantern, also known as Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack, Flaky Jack or Jack-o'-lantern, is a mythical character sometimes associated with All Hallows Eve while also acting as the mascot of the holiday. The "jack-o'-lantern" may be derived ...
*
Will-o'-the-wisp In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, will-o'-wisp or ''ignis fatuus'' (, plural ''ignes fatui''), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The phenomenon is known in English folk belief, ...


Suggested reading

* William Bernard McCarthy, Cheryl Oxford and Joseph Daniel Sobol, ''Jack in Two Worlds: Contemporary North American Tales and Their Tellers'', University of North Carolina Press (1994), * Julia Taylor Ebel, ''Orville Hicks: Mountain Stories, Mountain Roots'', Parkway Publishers (2005), *
Duncan Williamson Duncan James Williamson (11 April 1928, Loch Fyneside, near Furnace, Argyll - 8 November 2007) was a Scottish storyteller and singer, and a member of the Scottish Traveller community. The Scottish poet and scholar Hamish Henderson once refe ...
, ''Don't Look Back, Jack!: Scottish Traveller Tales'', Canongate Books (1990)


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Folktale Transcripts
1976-1990, Series 1. Archives of Appalachia. *
Audio recording of a traditional Jack tale
(Streaming and downloadable formats) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jack American folklore Appalachian culture English folklore Cornish folklore Heroes in mythology and legend Fairy tale stock characters Legendary English people Male characters in literature Male characters in fairy tales