Legends Myths and Folktales TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 MYTHS AND LEGENDS FOLKTALES AND FABLES Stories of Wonders and Everyday Life 6 Atlas The Bearer of the World 8 Dragons Beasts of Fire and Mist 10 An Asian Folktale Who Will Marry Mousie 12 Aesop’s Fables Animal Stories That Teach 14 EUROPE A European Folktale The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse 16 A Jewish Legend The Golem of Prague 18 A British Legend King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table 20 A Greek Legend Odysseus and the Cyclops 22 A Story from Ancient Greece The Trojan Horse 24 Thor The Thunder God 26 A Russian Folktale The Bear and the Old Man 28 ASIA A Chinese Cinderella Story Yeh-Shen 30 A Story from Japan The Stonecutter 32 A Korean Folktale The Tiger in the Trap 34 A South Asian Tale The Monkey and the String of Pearls 36 From the Kalilah wa Dimnah The Poor Man and the Flask of Oil 38 A Cambodian Myth Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso 40 AUSTRALIA An Australian Tale How Kangaroo Got His Tail 42 AFRICA A Story from Ghana Ananse and the Wisdom Pot 44 A Nigerian Folktale The Monkey Court 46 A Zulu Story Jackal Gets Away 48 THE AMERICAS A Mayan Story Rabbit Throws Away His Sandal 50 Paul Bunyan The Tale of a Lumberjack 52 An Inuit Tale How Crow Brought Daylight to the World 54 A Native American Legend Coyote Brings Fire 56 A Cherokee Story Why Possum’s Tail Is Bare 58 A Fable of the Pacific Northwest Raven and Crow’s Potlatch 60 GLOSSARY 62 INDEX 63 Brit a nnic a LEARNING LIBRARY
o n ders y L i fe a ofW eryd v E Stor i e s and S EA R C H LIG H T Which of the following is a story about ordinary people doing unusual things a myth b fable c folktale 6
MYTHS AND LEGENDS FOLKTALES AND FABLES l D I D YO U K N O W Yo u r s c h o o l p r o b a b l y h a s i t s o w n i t s a b o u t a ikely teacherknownfor legend Most formerstudentor hisorherunusualoramazing b e h a v i o r C h e c k w i t h y o u r c l a s s r o o m toseeifheorsheknows teacher aboutaschool legend In very ancient times people needed help to explain the mysteries of life They didn’t have scientists or other experts to tell them why different things happened So the way they grew to understand these mysteries was through stories called myths Today when we call something a myth we usually mean that it isn’t true But that’s often because we don’t believe the very old stories People used to believe in myths very strongly Some of the most familiar European myths come from ancient Greece The gods and goddesses of Greek religion all had stories about them that explained just why things were the way they were World religions today have their own mythologies Hinduism for example is filled with wondrous tales of gods and heroes such as the elephant-headed god Ganesha who represents good luck One Bible story tells how Moses led the original Jews out of slavery in Egypt And the famous stories of Jesus stand as examples to Christians of a perfect life Myths are closely related to several other kinds of stories that teach us lessons These include folktales legends fables and fairy tales Folktales are very much like myths though they are usually about ordinary characters in unusual situations Legends resemble folktales and myths but they’re usually linked to a particular place or person real or imaginary Fables teach lessons by telling stories with animal characters Fairy tales sometimes carry a message about right and wrong But often they’re simply exciting magical stories LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES A GREEK LEGEND ODYSSEUS AND THE CYCLOPS A JEWISH LEGEND THE GOLEM OF PRAGUE A NIGERIAN FOLKTALE THE MONKEY COURT Answer c folktale 7
