The story of Rudolph whose glowing red nose made him a standout, first appeared

in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department stores distributed about 2.4 million

booklets with the poem in the form of a story about "Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Reindeer." It was written by Robert L. May, who worked in the store's

advertisement or marketing department, to be used to attract more people into

the store. When the booklet was reissued in 1939, sales soared to more than 3.5

million copies. But it wasn't until a decade later, in 1949, that the story

really gained immense popularity when Gene Autry sang a musical version of the

fable. As a Christmas song, it is second only in popularity to 'White

Christmas.'

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. And 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