.
Rudolph, the ninth reindeer whose lighted
nose guides Santa’s sleigh through the night, is now known worldwide as the song has been translated into more than
20 different languages and an animated television movie has also been based on the story.
Rudolph and his noticeable nose have also become the subject of jokes and
sparked more interest in reindeers which has led to much research into Santa and the flying reindeers who pull his sleigh
through the sky.
Along with the catchy rhythm of the lyrics, Rudolph’s story is also
appealing because of the moral lessons it contains. As the story goes, Rudolph was ostracized by the other reindeers, which
laughed and teased him about his shiny red nose.
But on a foggy night, when Santa must have been concerned that he may not
be able to deliver his Christmas gifts around the world, Santa spotted him and kindly asked if he would step to the front
as the leader to ‘guide my sleigh tonight.’
His shiny red nose would after all be very useful in lighting the way, Santa
thought. From then on ‘all of the other reindeers loved him,” and rightly predicted that he ‘would go down
in history.’
Among the moral lessons the story can impart is that an attribute that is
perceived as negative or as a liability can be used for a positive purpose, or, become an asset. It also makes the point that
an individual should not let the negative behavior of others define him or her and limit expectations of what can be achieved.
And it also illustrates how quickly opinions and attitudes about a person can change.
The question still lingers however of where Rudolph came from. He is commonly
regarded as the son of Donner (or Donder), one of the original eight reindeers.
But the Snopes.com site rejects this however, saying that he dwelled in a
reindeer village elsewhere and it was there that he was seen by Santa who had already started on his Christmas Eve journey
to deliver gifts.
In a more modern evolution of the story according to Wikipedia.com, an animation
by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) introduced a son, named Robbie, of Rudolph. That son has now become the tenth
reindeer.
It’s also interesting to note that the idea of Santa’s sleigh
being pulled by reindeers was originated in the poem, "Twas The Night Before Christmas."
That poem tells the story of St. Nicholas, who is Santa, calling his eight
tiny reindeers by their names, as previously mentioned, just before he came down the chimney of a house to start filling the
stockings from a sack full of toys he carried on his back....