Jack (hero)

Jack is an English hero and archetypal stock character appearing in multiple legends, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes.

Unlike moralizing fairy heroes, Jack is often lazy or foolish, but emerges triumphant through wit and trickery, resembling the trickster or rebel archetypes.

[citation needed] The notional "Jack" corresponds with the German Hans (or Hänsel) and the Russian Ivan the Fool.

[2][3] As noted by the folklorist Herbert Halpert, 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.

[5][6] 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.