folktale
Orally transmitted narrative
A folktale is a traditional story passed down orally through generations within a culture.
Folktales include fairy tales, fables, legends, and myths—stories featuring stock characters, simple morals, or supernatural elements: The Brothers Grimm collected German folktales.
The term distinguishes stories arising from collective tradition rather than individual authorship.
Unverified traditional tale
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- godsSupernatural beings worshipped
- heroesAdmired courageous figures
- supernaturalBeyond natural explanation
epic · monsters · beasts · enchantment · magic · prophecy · quest · pantheon
Account of events
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- anecdoteBrief account of incident
chronicle · yarn · plot · characters · setting · conflict · resolution · hero
Poet of epics
- griotAfrican oral tradition keeper
- recitationOral delivery from memory
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
raconteur · balladeer · skald · yarn-spinner · narrator · fireside · elder · retelling
Unit of teaching
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
- proverbTraditional saying expressing truth
cautionary · didactic · morality · virtue · ethics · values · teaching · maxim
Without apparent deterioration
- enduringPersisting through time
- ancientVery old indeed
- ancestralOf one's forebears
- generationsPeople born around same time
eternal · classic · universal · archetypal · perennial · timeworn · traditional · handed-down
legend
Unverified traditional tale
supernatural · epic · monsters · beasts · enchantment · magic · prophecy · quest · pantheon · deities
story
Account of events
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
anecdote · chronicle · yarn · plot · characters · setting · conflict · resolution · hero · villain
bard
Poet of epics
- griotAfrican oral tradition keeper
- recitationOral delivery from memory
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
troubadour · raconteur · balladeer · skald · yarn-spinner · narrator · fireside · elder · retelling · performance
lesson
Unit of teaching
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- wisdomGood judgment from experience
proverb · cautionary · didactic · morality · virtue · ethics · values · teaching · maxim · precept
ageless
Without apparent deterioration
generations · eternal · classic · universal · archetypal · perennial · timeworn · traditional · handed-down · immortal
tradition
Custom passed through generations
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- loreTraditional knowledge transmitted orally
legends · fables · proverbs · beliefs · superstitions · rituals · ceremonies · artifacts · symbols · mythology
- story typesmyth, fables, legend, drama, joke
- Jewish Talesaggadah, midrash, moral fables, parable, miracle stories
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- storiesstory, myth, legend, parable, narrative
- storytellingstory, narrative, narrator, storyteller, story time
folktalechronicle
Ordered historical record
historiography · encyclopedia entry · historical document · historical record · official record
folktaletrue story
Narrative of actual events
nonfiction · eyewitness account · journalism · documentary · reportage
folktaleliterary fiction
Prose emphasizing craft and depth
original composition · experimental fiction · belles-lettres · avant-garde writing
- German folktalesTraditional Germanic narrative folklore