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Christmas Magic
TA KES Many Forms
JACK TALES ARE ONE OF APPAL ACHIA’S
MOST BELOVED STORY TELLING TRADITIONS.
The oral folklore series recounts the antics
of Jack, a clever young boy, who finds himself
in countless predicaments.
Researchers and folklore collectors
have found these tales, which originated
in Europe, all over the world. The ones in
the Appalachian Mountains took on the
characteristics of the hearty immigrants who
struggled to eke out a life in a beautiful,
but challenging area.
Jack’s adventures have him encountering all sorts of foes — from
giants to panthers to ghosts —
but he uses his wits, good nature,
and, more often than not, good
fortune to win out in the end.
You could say, as W. Lewis
Bolton, author and creator
of Smoky Mountain Jack Tales
Storytelling Theatre, observes
that Jack’s character takes on a
celebrity status comparable to
today’s comic book action heroes.
The mountains near Mast Store’s
Original Store are home to the Hicks
family. Ray Hicks, who passed away in 2003,
is a Smithsonian treasure for his telling of
Jack Tales. His dialect and word choice hearken back to Elizabethan and Shakespearean
language— not because Ray was scholarly
but because he lived in such a remote area.
Just as we might turn on the radio or
television for a distraction while doing chores,
Jack Tales accompanied the necessary undertakings for weathering the winter — like
peeling apples for drying, breaking beans for
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canning, or grading tobacco for market.
The oral tradition allowed Jack to “be adapted”
to the time and region of the storyteller.
In the book Smoky Mountain Jack Tales
of Winter and Old Christmas, Bolton proves
Jack Tales’ agility by transforming Jack’s
most famous exploit into a holiday-themed,
distinctively Appalachian take on the classic
“Jack and the Beanstalk.”
In “Jack and the Bean Tree Christmas,”
Jack doesn’t steal a golden-egg-laying hen
and a magical harp from the Giant, who
lives at the top of the beanstalk, but
rather he takes bread, wood, and a
quilt to feed and keep his family
warm for the winter. Appalachian families, for centuries,
have understood that these
necessities are the true Christmas gifts… Everyday items
required for survival during
cold, harsh winters are portrayed as luxuries as valuable
as any riches and also gifts of
hospitality should visitors grace
their thresholds.
But Jack doesn’t just provide for
his own family. By chopping down the bean
tree to escape the Giant, green beans rain for
“miles and mi-i-iles around… [feeding] many
a mountain family a-a-all year long,” the tale
proclaims.
Like the spoken tradition of Jack Tales,
the people of the Appalachian Mountains
have endured for generations thanks to
their adaptability, wit, courage, resilience,
and willingness to give to others with a
full heart.
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