You heard my reading of "Jack and the Beanstalk" or rather of a psychoanalytic treatment of this plot by a Freudian scholar. My skeptical attitude toward that interpretation does not mean that a search for a hidden meaning of folklore plots is in principle illegitimate. Here is a case in point. The third son in the wonder tale is an "ashlad." What would you say about the idea that once upon a time this son was the keeper of the parents' hearth and only later, for whatever reason, became the butt of ridicule?
a) He was punished for his honesty
b) He represented the overlooked potential
c) He symbolized the working class
d) He was meant to contrast with his siblings