Fern Griffiths

The terms myth, legend and folklore or folktale are often used interchangeably and there is much disagreement among academics as to how to define them.  As a result, there is disagreement about the relation between myth, legends and folklore.  Though all three terms refer to bodies of work that were originally told and passed down orally; and present answers to some of life’s basic questions or present commentary on morality,  William Bascom, an American folklorist, anthropologist, and museum director proposed that “pros narrative” is a more appropriate term for the collective body oef work that is covered by myths, legend and folklore (Bascom 1965, 3).

The word myth comes from the Greek word “mythos” meaning “story”.  Myths are traditional stories that are used to convey a truth about the world or humanity as the origins of a people.  Some myths attempt to explain mysteries, supernatural events and cultural traditions; others are sacred in nature, involving gods to explain a culture’s religion and beliefs. In a myth, the symbolism of the events are more important than the actual events; they tell the stories of the creation of the world, natural phenomena and human conditions like suffering and human flaws. Myths use concepts such as tragedy, honour, bravery and even foolishness and often consist of characters who are goods, deities, demi-gods, and supernatural creatures alongside humans and animals. The origins of myths are uncertain and are passed down from generation to generation. Many cultures have myths that contain similar archetypal images and themes such as that of the great flood or deluge (Britannica. n.d.).

“Myths are prose narratives which, in the society in which they are told, are considered to be truthful accounts of what happened in the remote past. They are accepted on faith; they are taught to be believed; and they can be cited as authority in answer to ignorance, doubt, or disbelief. Myths are the embodiment of dogma; they are usually sacred; and they are often associated with theology and ritual. Their main characters are not usually human beings, but they often have human attributes; they are animals, deities, or culture heroes, whose actions are set in an earlier world, when the earth was different from what it is today, or in another world such as the sky or underworld. Myths account for the origin of the world, of mankind, of death, or for characteristics of birds, animals, geographical features, and the phenomena of nature. They may recount the activities of the deities, their love affairs, their family relationships, their friendships and enmities, their victories and defeats. They may purport to “explain” details of ceremonial paraphernalia or ritual, or why tabus must be observed, but such etiological elements are not confined to myths.
(Bascom 1965, 4.)

Legends usually refer to a tale thought to have a historical basis, such as the legends of King Arthur or Robin Hood.  Myths then at their core are grounded in historical facts, which marks a clear distinction from myths that centre around the sacred and supernatural. Legends may resemble folktales in content; they may include supernatural beings, elements of mythology, or explanations of natural phenomena, but what separates them from folktales is that they are associated with a particular locality or person and are told as a matter of history.

“Legends are prose narratives which, like myths, are regarded as true by the narrator and his audience, but they are set in a period considered less remote, when the world was much as it is today. Legends are more often secular than sacred,7 and their principal characters are human. They tell of migrations, wars and victories, deeds of past heroes, chiefs, and kings, and succession in ruling dynasties. In this they are often the counterpart in verbal tradition of written history, but they also include local tales of buried treasure, ghosts, fairies, and saints.”
(Bascom 1965, 4-5.)

Unlike myths and legends; which at their core are based in history and are often sacred, telling the origins of a people, folklore is a collection of fictional tales about people, animals or creatures with superstition and unfounded beliefs being important elements in folklore traditions.  Folklore, also called folktales, feature stories that revolve around how the main character copes with the events of everyday life, and often involve crisis and conflict.  The aim of these stories is to teach people how to cope with life, death or conflict and have themes common among cultures around the world. Folklore act as a “mirror” (Bascom 1954, 338) reflecting the values and concerns of a culture.  Bascom believes that the function of folklore is to maintain the stability of a culture and operates within a society to ensure the accepted and establish cultural and social norms are passed down from generation to generation.

“Folktales are prose narratives which are regarded as fiction. They are not considered as dogma or history, they may or may not have happened, and they are not to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, although it is often said that they are told only for amusement, they have other important functions, as the class of moral folktales should have suggested. Folktales may be set in any time and any place, and in this sense, they are almost timeless and placeless. They have been called “nursery tales” but in many societies, they are not restricted to children. They have also been known as “fairy tales” but this is inappropriate both because narratives about fairies are usually regarded as true, and because fairies do not appear in most folktales. Fairies, ogres, and even deities may appear, but folktales usually recount the adventures of animal or human characters.”
(Bascom 1965, 4.)

Bascom summarized his “Three Forms of Prose Narrative” in the following table (fig. 1):

For my project, I will be using both myth and folklore to define and shape the narrative of my project.   Bascom’s “Three Forms of Prose Narratives” define Myths as referring to non-human characters while folklore, or folktales, refer to both human and non-human characters.  I intended to create my own myth to establish the history of world in which my story will take place, providing the player with an understanding of the cultural beliefs of the world.  Folklore and folktales will be used to inspire and define the creature interactions that will take place throughout the game.  Though I am still unsure as to what serious topic I want to explore within the gameplay, both the myth and folklore elements of the game will be used to convey this topic to the player.

“Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvellous and manifestly unreal.”
L. Frank Baum (1900)

References:

BRITANNICA. n.d. “Flood Myth” Britannica [online]. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/flood-myth [accessed 8 February 2022].

BASCOM, William. 1954. “Four Functions of Folklore”.  The Journal of American Folklore, 67(266), 333–349.

BASCOM, William. 1965. “The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives”. The Journal of American Folklore, 78(307), 3–20.

Figures:

Figure 1: BASCOM, William. 1965. “The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives”. The Journal of American Folklore, 78(307), 3–20: 5.