Today’s post is going to be a short one. I know, I know, you’re all surprised. By now you’ll know I’m pretty talkative. I’m making an effort to be a little shorter with my content. So today I thought we’d briefly define the difference between myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales. At least…how I think they’re different.
This stemmed from a conversation I was having with my best friend, who asked if the stories from the Arabian Nights, or 1001 Nights, counted as fairy tales or mythology. It got me thinking, and here we are.
(I count them as a collection of fairy tales, by the way.)
Anyway, onto the differentiating. Remember, this is more of an opinion post. Though I did so some sniffing around to see what others thought about this subject.
Myths – Based on Beliefs
Generally I feel like mythology and myths cross a lot of boundaries when it comes storytelling. I think a story can be both myth and fairy tale, or myth and fable, depending on the culture and a few other factors. But the main thing that makes myths a bit different as a genre, if we can call these categories that, is that most often they’re based on some kind of religion or belief system.
A lot of myths will be creation stories. Either the creation of the earth itself, or the creation of something a little more specific, like humankind, fire, a certain plant, a specific river. That sort of thing. Others can be explanations for phenomenon, like what causes thunder, why the rivers flood, etc. And still others explain the impossible, like what happens after death, or strange and unexplainable events.
The interesting myths, the ones that kind of cross boundaries, are the ones that don’t really make an effort to explain anything but just seem like a fun and entertaining story. I’m thinking of the Trojan Wars, Cupid and Psyche, or that one crazy myth about Thor dressing as a woman to get his hammer back from a giant while Loki pretends to be his handmaiden.
Look that one up. It’s pretty funny.
These entertaining myths can sometimes dip their fingers into the fables, fairy tales, or legends categories, but ultimately I think it’s their ties to gods, belief systems, or religions that marks them as myths, rather than the other genres.
Legends – Possibly Historical
One of the things that stands out to me when I think about legends is that a lot of times they’re rooted in true stories. Either a person really existed and people keep telling stories about them now, or something actually happened but the story has gotten retold so many times the facts are all messed up.
This is what people consider King Arthur or Robin Hood to be, but their particular stories already have a genre. King Arthur stories are generally part of medieval romances, a real historical genre, and Robin Hood is immortalized in medieval and early Renaissance ballads. Both genres count as poetic forms, so…they’re a little different than the rest by virtue of literary form alone. But Robin Hood and King Arthur themselves are legendary figures.
Legends as stories would be more like Paul Bunyan, or Johnny Appleseed. They appear as short stories that could be realistic except for one or two details, and are often based on true events. Most of the legends-as-stories I know are American. Others, like Robin Hood, Atlantis, or the Fountain of Youth don’t have a particular or “main” story connected to them, so they stands as legendary people, places, or objects.
Fables – Animals with Lessons
Every time I hear the word “fable” I think Aesop’s fables. All of his fables, whether he wrote them or not, have animals with the same sort of thoughts and motivations as people. And by the end of the story, there’s a lesson to be learned.
The most famous example is the Tortoise and the Hare. You know how this goes, right? A tortoise and a hare agree to race, the hare has the lead but stops to take a little nap, the tortoise continues on at the usual pace and ends up winning. The moral? Slow and steady wins the race.
This genre can get tricky though, because some cultures, like some African tribes or African folklore traditions, almost exclusively tell stories involving animals. We would even consider these kinds of stories to be fairy tales, and the ATU index has an entire broad category for animals tales (numbers 1-299).
I think the defining feature is the purpose of the story. Is the tale just an amusing story? Does it explain some kind of phenomenon? Then it might be more fairy tale or myth. But if it’s designed specifically to teach some kind of moral or lesson, then it’s more of a fable than anything else.
Fairy Tales – Mostly Entertainment
We already went over what makes a fairy tale in this post. So I won’t bore you with the bigger details. But I will mention how a fairy tale differs from these other genres, at least in my eyes.
The main thing is that fairy tales were and are mostly for entertainment. Most fairy tales don’t seek to explain anything about life or nature, they’re not typically based on historical people or events (though real people and events certainly inspired many), and even though some of them involve animals interacting with one another, they don’t always have a specific moral or lesson. Many of them do, but they’re not always designed specifically as a teaching tool.
Instead I think what makes a fairy tale different from these other genres is simply that we’re meant to enjoy listening to them or reading them. Before they were written down and published, you traditionally shared these stories to pass the time.
Fairy tales also almost always have magic or some impossible happening. There are magical creatures, magic spells, impossible tasks, unrealistic interventions, supernatural helpers, and so on. You can find those things in myths, legends, and fables as well, but having those magical elements and an entertainment factor is really what defines a fairy tale as different from the rest.
What does it matter?
Do we have to define the differences between these genres? Not really. A story can be one or all of these things. A story about a possibly real person who goes on this great adventure, meeting gods and fantastical creatures and getting out impossible scrapes with magical help could easily be a legend, myth, and fairy tale all in one. It just depends on how it’s written, I guess.
The lines definitely blur between each of these genres, and I think that’s okay. That’s kind of the nature of stories in general. Today we like to put everything in its correct little genre, but genres can be pretty fluid, and a story isn’t ever going to fit into just one genre. Just think about romances. There are all sorts of genre romances. Paranormal romance, fantasy romance, realistic romance, romantic romance…well you get the picture.
These little genres can be the same. I think, in the end, all that matters is that these stories make you think, just a little, and hopefully serve as a bit of entertainment, too.
I love seeing your comments! Comment below with your favorite myth, legend, fable, or fairy tale, or tell us your thoughts on what makes them different!