MYTHS VS.

LEGENDS
LEGEND
 A legend is presumed to have some basis in historical fact and tends to
mention real people or events. Historical fact morphs into a legend when the
truth has been exaggerated to the point that real people or events have taken
on a romanticized, "larger than life" quality.
MYTH
 A myth is a type of symbolic storytelling that was never based on fact.
Throughout time, myths have sought to explain difficult concepts (e.g., the
origin of the universe) with the help of common story devices, such as
personification and allegories.
These words are commonly used interchangeably to refer to the fictitious
nature of something. Historically and academically, however, there is a
difference.

FOLKLORES VS.FOLKTALES
Folklore
 Folklore refers to the traditional beliefs and stories of a community. This
includes folktales, myths, legends, beliefs, practices, superstitions, etc. This
highlights that folklore captures a wide span. It can even be stated that folklore
of a particular group of people is built in accordance with their culture. People
make sense of their surrounding world through the usage of folklore. The
various superstitions, stories, beliefs all add up to the creation of this cultural
heritage.
 Folklore is passed down from one generation to another through word of
mouth. It was William J. Thoms who coined the word folklore in 1846. Now
folklore has even become a study of knowledge and culture of different groups
of people. There are many genres of folklore as well. They are music,
narratives, beliefs, religion, practices, material culture, etc. In the study of
folklore as an academic discipline, folklorists focus on these aspects of various
cultures in order to comprehend their folklore.
 Folktale
 Unlike folklore that encompasses a large variety of cultural heritage, folktales
refer to stories that have been passed down from ancestors of a particular group
of people to the younger generations. These stories can be quite different from
one another and do not belong to the same genre. For instance, folktales can
include adventure stories, fairy tales, historical tales, and even ghost tales. This
emphasizes that folktales include a blend of stories. These stories are passed
down from one generation to another through the word of mouth.

 Just as in the case of folklore where culture plays a huge impact, in folktales also
this impact can be seen very well. This is why people of different groups have
different folktales, based on their cultures. However, the main elements of
folktales are mostly universal. In each story, we can find human beings as main
characters. Some of these characters can even have special powers. Folktales
usually consist of supernatural elements, action, justice, and even happy
endings. Most folktales provide the listener with a moral as well.

This highlights that folklore and folktales are different from one another, and
should not be used interchangeably.