The difference between myths and folktales is a subject that has been extensively explored by scholars and anthropologists. Those who study folklore are folklorists and their research involving the many aspects of different cultures has led to an understanding of what myths and folktales are and how to distinguish one from the other. However, the terms are loosely used at large and other folklore terms are sometimes interpreted as or grouped with the categories of myths and folktales, or viewed as something entirely different.

Folklore

Coined in England in 1846 by William Thoms, the term folklore itself can be defined as a particular group of people’s knowledge passed on by oral, written, or visual means as well as traditions, thought patterns and religious doctrine at any given time. Folklore and folktales are not synonymous, folktales being a form of folklore.

William Bascom defines myths and folktales as prose narratives in an article he published in “Journal of American Folklore”, in 1965. He proposes that prose narratives are an important category of verbal art that includes myths, legends and folktales. Arguing that they are related to each other in part because they are distinguished from proverbs, ballads, riddles, poems, tongue twisters and other forms of verbal art.

Folktales

Folktales are considered works of fiction. William Bascom states:

“They are not considered as dogma or history, they may or may not have happened and they are not to be taken seriously.”

Folktales may be set in the past, present or future, in any place and anywhere. There are many types of folktales including tales with human or animal characters, tall tales, trickster tales, moral and fable tales. They are stories told to entertain and sometimes to morally educate.

Fairy Tales are not folktales, as they are usually considered true also; folktales recount only human and animal adventures.

Myths

The community that is being told these stories considers myths. Contrary to folktales, Bascom states:

“Myths are accepted as faith; they are taught to be believed and they can be cited as authority in answer to ignorance, doubt and disbelief.”

“Myths are the embodiment of dogma; they are usually sacred; and they are often associated with theology and ritual.

Accounting for the origin of the world, people, natural phenomena, life and death, myths are set in a time when the earth was different than today. The main characters are usually animals, culture heroes, deities or Gods that often had human attributes.

Myths were a means of giving the public an explanation for things that were not entirely understood and to give meaning to existence.

That said, statements uttered such as “That’s just a myth.” or “That’s just folklore” are generally alluding to the fact that something that was purported to be true has been found to be untrue. This is because throughout time, as science progresses, many if not most cultures explanations for life on earth were reduced to mere ignorance and fantastic imaginations.

Regarding the third form of prose narrative, legends are mostly considered true accounts, just as myths are. However, legends seem to be about actual humans and events in a less remote past that sometimes have factual evidence to back them up.