How do I tell the difference between a myth, a legend, and / or a folktale?
Start with William Bascom’s definitions. In his article, “The Forms of Folklore: Prose Narratives,” William Bascom gives the following definitions of folktale, myth and legend: * “Folktales are prose narratives which are regarded as fiction.” * “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.” * “Legends are prose narratives which, like myths, are regarded as true by the narrator and his audience, but they are set in a period considerably less remote, when the world was much as it is today.” Bascom differentiates among Folktale, Myth, and Legend by focusing on the original audience’s views of the fictionality, time period, setting, religious importance, and divine or human statues of the main characters.
