Essay from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: Fairy tales and ancient myths are traditional narratives that consist of literary and oral descent. Both genres are dealing with supernatural/magical aspects in their content. The following essay examines the characteristics of fairy tales and myths by giving an explanation of the term myth in order to summarize shortly the current state of research regarding similarities and differences between myths and fairy tales. In the following, those aspects shall be used to answer the question if it is possible to put myths and fairy tales in a direct context to each other, by a comparison of the myth of Heracles and the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk.