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Mythology has been passed around using several different media: while the genre certainly began with [[Oral Tradition]], it also includes [[Literature]] composed in writing from the start, as well as [[Music]], visual arts, and [[Theatre]].
Because bodies of mythology have huge numbers of authors and are continually developed over centuries or millennia, any given story is likely to come in [[Depending On the Author|multiple versions]], so internal contradictions are pretty much inevitable, so beware of [[Continuity Snarl
'''Myth'''
In English the words "myth" and "mythology" are often used to mean "widely believed falsehood" or "total fiction
Myths are sacred narratives dealing with subjects such as deities, God, acts of creation, the afterlife, the nature of human souls, and the origin of good and evil. They may tell a [[Creation Myth]] or [[Just-So Story]], express theology and cosmology, or relate themes and tropes to human nature. Most cultures and religions have some mythic narratives, though people both within and between traditions differ in how literally or metaphorically they interpret and believe their myths.
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Typical forms of folk narratives are folk tales, folk legends and folk ballads. Even shorter forms of oral tradition include folk songs, nursery rhymes, riddles, proverbs, and jokes.
'''Folktales''' are often equated with [[Fairy Tale
* Wonder tales: Quintessential fairy tales,
* Realistic Tales (a.k.a. "novellas"): Tales
* Stupid Ogre Tales: Clever,
* [[Beast Fable|(Beast)
* Animal tales: Tales with animal heroes. They rely on the same [[Animal Stereotypes]] as beast fables, however they aim for pure entertainment, not moral lessons. Almost always, the tale is about how an ostensibly weaker animal outwits a larger, stronger or otherwise seemingly superior one. Examples: "The Hare and the Hedgehog," "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids."
* Religious Tales: Superhuman/divine forces punish evil or foolish behavior and reward honest or morally exemplary behavior. In the West, they often took the form of "legends of Saints," but the type itself is not tied to any specific religion. See "[[Honest Axe]]"-type stories; even Perrault's comical "[[The Ludicrous Wishes]]" is at its core a religious tale.
* [[Just-So Story|Just
* Cautionary Tales: Tales told specifically to children to deter them from undesirable behaviour by means of [[Scare'Em Straight]]. Consequently they often result in a [[Downer Ending]]. "[[Little Red Riding Hood]]" is a quintessential cautionary tale.
* Nursery Tales: Tales specifically intended for smaller children. They often take the form of a "chain tale" (or "cumulative tale") –- the same loop repeats over and over again (though with a little change each time). The plot is usually quite silly, as the fun is more in telling them lively, and they often contain verses that children can learn. Typical nursery tales are "[[The Gingerbread Man]]" and "[[Goldilocks]]" (a.k.a. "The Three Bears").
* Tall Tales: Obvious absurdities for entertainment's sake. The name derives from a specific type of such stories about people or things that are improbably tall, such as the [[Paul Bunyan]] stories. But Tall Tales are not necessarily about tall things; the [[Tom Thumb]] stories, about a hero that is impossibly ''small'', are (ironically) rooted in the Tall Tale genre too.
* Joke Stories and Anecdotes: Funny stories about people that are [[The Ditz|exceptionally dumb]], clever [[Trickster
'''Folk Legends''' differ from folk tales in that they have an (at least vaguely) fixed setting in time and space. In their origins, they are passed down as something that really happened, or at least ''possibly'' happened; this is their difference from folk ''tales'', which are always considered to be non-factual. Of course, the modern age has made this distinction a little more blurry, as we don't believe any more in the historical reality of "[[The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]" (a folk legend) than we do in the story of "[[Hansel and Gretel]]" (a folk tale). Even today, however, the notion that there is "a true core" behind legends is still quite common. Many folk legends are [[Ghost Story|ghost stories]]; others extol the memorable deeds of [[Folk Hero
'''Folk Ballads''' are not so much a separate genre, but rather folk tales or folk legends packaged in folk song (see [[Narrative Poem]]).
(This list is a work in progress.)
* [[Aboriginal Australian Myths]]
* Abrahamic Sacred Texts
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* [[Mesopotamian Mythology]]
** ''[[Enuma Elish]]''
** ''[[Inanna's Descent to the
* [[Native American Mythology]]
* [[Norse Mythology]]
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* [[Slavic Mythology]]
* [[Ars Goetia]]
* [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti]]
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* [[Wendigo]]
=== Arabian ===▼
▲==== Heroic Legend ====
▲== Arabian ==
* The [[Arabian Hero Cycles]]
=== Classical (ancient Greek and Roman) ===
* ''[[The Aeneid]]''
* ''[[The Iliad]]''
* ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]''
* The lost works of
** ''[[Cypria]]''
** ''[[Aethiopis]]''
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** ''[[The Women of Trachis]]''
=== English ===
* ''[[Beowulf]]''
=== Finnish ===
* ''[[The Kalevala]]''
=== French ===
* ''[[The Song of Roland]]''
=== German ===
* ''[[Nibelungenlied]]''
=== Indian ===
* ''[[Mahabharata]]''
* ''[[Ramayana]]''
=== Irish ===
* ''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge
=== Mesopotamia (Sumerian/Babylonian/Akkadian) ===
* ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''
=== Norse ===
* The [[The Icelandic Sagas|Icelandic Legendary Sagas]], such as:
** ''[[Ragnar Lodbrok and His Sons]]''
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** ''[[The Saga of Hrolf Kraki]]''
=== Persian ===
* ''[[The Shahnameh]]'' -- Contains some of the first tales of [[Knight in Shining Armor|Knighthood]], [[Heroic Albino|Underestimated Albinos]] and [[Talking Animal|talking]] [[Giant Flyer|Giant Birds]] such as the Simurgh.
=== Russian & Ukrainian ===
* The ''byliny'', heroic lays that often feature [[Russian Mythology and Tales|the bogatyrs (old times heroes)]]
=== Welsh ===
* [[King Arthur]] was a Welsh hero before he morphed into the [[Non-Action Guy]] known from many a [[Chivalric Romance]].
* The ''[[
[This category is for stuff like the Christian legends of saints, if we had any such works. I wonder if the ''[[The Life of Milarepa]]'' belongs into this category.]
=== Folklore ===▼
* [[Mountain Folklore]] -- old American folklore from the Appalachian mountains.
* [[Nautical Folklore]] -- Sailors' folklore throughout the ages.
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* [[Ara the Handsome]]
[Literary Fairy Tales will go ''only'' on [[Fairy Tale]], traditional fairy tales will be on both indexes.]
* [[Golem]]
=== Fairy Tales ===
* "[[Adalmina's
* "[[Ara the Handsome]]"
* ''[[Arabian Nights]]'' -- Huge collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folktales. Big-ass [[Framing Device]].
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* "[[Snow-White and Rose-Red]]"
* "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]"
* "[[Sun, Moon,
* "[[Tatterhood]]"
* The [[Tom Thumb]] tales
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* "[[Yeh Shen]]"
=== Nursery Tales ===
* "[[The Gingerbread Man]]"
* "[[Goldilocks]]"
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* "[[Three Little Pigs]]"
=== Beast Fables ===
* [[Aesop's Fables]]
=== Tall Tales ===
* [[Paul Bunyan]] tales
* [[Crooked Mick]] tales
* [[Fearsome Critters of American Folklore]]
[remove from [[Fairy Tale]]]
=== Individual legends ===
* "[[The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]"
* "[[The White Witch of Rose Hall]]" -- A famous ghost story from the island of Jamaica.
=== [[Folk Hero
* [[Benjamin Franklin]]
* [[Davy Crockett]]
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* [[William Tell]]
=== ... and other Characters of Folk Legend ===
* [[The Devil]]
* [[Faust]]
* [[Merlin]]
=== Folk Legend Subcategories ===
* [[Urban Legends]] -- modern day folk legends.
* The [[Child Ballad
* "[[Tam Lin]]"
* "[[Murder Ballad]]"
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== Beings of folk belief ==
=== Australia ===
* [[Yowies and Bunyips and Drop Bears, Oh My!]]
=== China ===
* [[Chinese Vampire]]
=== Egypt ===
* [[Ouroboros]]
=== Europe ===
* [[The Fair Folk]]
* [[Pegasus]]
* [[The Wild Hunt]]
=== Ireland ===
* [[Leprechaun]]
=== Japan ===
* [[Youkai]]
** The [[Kappa]]
** The [[Kitsune]]
** ... and other [[Multiple-Tailed Beast
** The [[Tanuki]]
* [[Kaiju]]
=== Northwestern Europe ===
* [[Selkies and Wereseals]]
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