Types of Folktales

Feature gods/goddesses

• myths

• legends

• fairytales

• tall tales

Stories that supposedly happened or feature a person who might have been real, but can't be proven as true.

• myth

• legend

• tall tale

• fable

Stories that feature characters with superhuman abilities, usually humorous (funny), and set in the time of pioneers.

• myth

• tall tale

• fable

• legend

Feature personified animals and teach a theme

• myth

• tall tale

• fairy tale

• fable

Feature royalty (king, queen, princess, prince)

• myth

• fairy tale

• tall tale

• fable

Usually the conflict and plot are focused on "good vs. evil"

• legend

• fable

• fairy tale

• tall tale

Snow White is a princess with an evil stepmother (she's also a witch). This is an example of a...

• fable

• fairytale

• myth

• legend

The Tortoise and the Hare is about a race between a rabbit and a tortoise. They talk to each other and there is a lesson to be learned from the story.

• fable

• fairy tale

• myth

• legend

John Henry was a big, tall man who could drive a railroad spike in with one hit from his hammer. He drilled a tunnel through a mountain using only his hammer.

• myth

• fable

• tall tale

• fairy tale

Once there was a war between Sparta (Greece) and Troy over a beautiful woman named Helen. The war went on for 10 years until the Greeks developed a plan to hid inside a wooden horse, then ambush the Trojans when they brought the horse inside their city walls. This story is...

• myth

• legend

• fable

• fairy tale