Literary Glossary

A short story or folk tale, often with a specific moral outcome intended to instruct the audience.

Stories either created or strongly influenced by oral traditions. The plots often feature stark conflicts between good and evil, with magic and luck determining the usually happy endings.

Literary works, most often prose narrative, that are imaginative rather than factual.

First coined in 1846 by William John Thoms, a British antiquarian. Folklore can be divided into its two component words, folk and lore. Folklore is thus all the lore shared by a particular folk.