Traditional tales in literature transmit values, culture, and heritage. Fairytales and myths are categorized as traditional tales. They share many similarities, from fantastic elements and symbols to happy endings, but they also have differences. If we look at the Joseph Jacobs' (1898) fairytale, "Jack and the Beanstalk" and the myth of Santa Claus in Jan Brett's (1990) The Wild Christmas Reindeer, we can see these similarities and differences.
In Jan Brett's (1990) The Wild Christmas Reindeer, a girl elf befriends a reindeer that can speak. She works in Santa's toyshop at a place called Santa's Winter Farm. These fantastic elements serve as the environment in which a superego conflict is resolved for the little girl elf, Teeka. Teeka is anxious to do right by Santa so she is at first very bossy. We are told at the beginning, "Teeka was excited and a little afraid" (Brett, 1990, p. 1). Teeka will ultimately overcome her fears and realize that being bossy is not the best approach to helping others or getting things done. As she tells the elves, "I've spent all my time yelling at you, instead of helping" (Brett, 1990, p. 29). Teeka learns something about herself and others in coming to her happy ending.
In the Joseph Jacobs (1898) fairytale "Jack and the Beanstalk" we see there are also many elements of the fantastic like in The Wild Christmas Reindeer. Jack and his mother are poor, so he sells his cow, Milky-White, for five "magical beans," to his mother's great dismay (Jacobs, 1898, p. 2). His mother is so enraged that she hits Jack and calls him an "idiot," sending him to bed with no dinner and throwing the beans out the window. In the morning the beanstalk reaching to the sky promised to Jack by the man who sold him the beans has grown. Jack climbs it and discovers a land more fantastical than Santa's Winter Farm, where a giant ogre lives. Jack steals gold from the napping ogre and takes...