What is the difference between myths, legends and fables?

What is the difference between a myth, legend, fable and folk tales? Myths, legends and fables are old stories written for adults and children. Folk or fairy tales were written specially for children.

We already know that fables are short stories that were passed down from generation to generation and told to teach a lesson about something. Fables are about animals that can talk and act like people, or plants or forces of nature like thunder or wind. The plants may be able to move and also talk and the natural forces cause things to happen in the story because of their strength. An example is the tortoise and the hare.

Legends tell a story about about people and their actions or deeds. The people lived in more recent times and are mentioned in history. The stories are told for a purpose and are based on facts, but they are not completely true.

Examples of people in English legends are King Arthur and Robin Hood. Fantastic places like the Lost City of Atlantis are also part of legends.

Myths are made up stories that try to explain how our world works and how we should treat each other. The stories are usually set in times long ago, before history as we know it was written. Myths are often used to explain some practice, rite, phenomenon, or why something is the way it is.

A myth is a story based on tradition or legend, which has a deep symbolic meaning.

A myth ‘conveys a truth’ to those who tell it and hear it, rather than necessarily recording a true event.

For early people, myths were like science because they explained how natural events work. Today we don’t always know if myths are true or not. Some of the stories or characters may seem impossible, and science gives us different explanations for some of our questions. But people all over the world still like to read myths and we all like to think about what they might mean. Myths have become more symbolic for the culture they come from.

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Greeks told stories about their many gods, goddesses and magical beings. These stories are called myths, which is short for mythology.

“Myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos” which means “word of mouth”.