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Narrative - Traditional tales - Legends

Specific features and structures of some narrative types

Traditional or ‘folk’ tales include myths, legends, fables and fairy tales. Often originating in the oral tradition, examples exist in most cultures, providing a rich, culturally diverse resource for children’s reading and writing. Many of these stories served an original purpose of passing on traditional knowledge or sharing cultural beliefs.

They tend to have themes that deal with life’s important issues and their narrative structures are often based on a quest, a journey or a series of trials and forfeits.

Characters usually represent the archetypical opposites of good and evil, hero and villain, strong and weak or wise and foolish.

The style of traditional stories usually retains links with their origins in oral storytelling: rich, evocative vocabulary, repetition and patterned language, and strong use of imagery. When written in a traditional style, they also use some archaic language forms and vocabulary. Many regional stories include localised vocabulary and dialect forms.

Different types of traditional tales tend to have some narrative features (purpose, characters, language, style, structure) of their own:

Purpose:

To provide information about the way particular people lived, and what they believed. Legends also help us to reflect on our own lives because they often deal with issues that are cross-cultural and relevant today.

Link to: Year 1 Narrative - Unit 2 - Stories from a range of cultures/Predictable patterned language
Year 1 Narrative - Unit 3 - Traditional and fairy stories
Year 2 Narrative - Unit 2 - Traditional stories
Year 3 Narrative - Unit 2 - Myths, legends, fables, traditional tales Year 5 Narrative - Unit 2 - Traditional stories, fables, myths, legends
Additional information on Traditional tales

 

Generic structureLanguage featuresKnowledge for the writer

Structure is usually chronological, with one episode told after another, for example as the phases of a journey or the stages of an ongoing battle. Some legends tell the whole life story of their hero as a series of linked episodes; each one may be a story in its own right.
Common structures include:

  • chronological episodes;
  • journey stories;
  • sequential stories;
  • life stories and community histories.

Language features are very similar to those of myths:

  • rich, evocative vocabulary;
  • memorable language use;
  • use of rhythm and repetition techniques;
  • formulaic openings and endings;
  • imagery: simile, metaphor and symbolism.

Legends written in a traditional style often use more literary language than fairy tales or fables. Modern versions such as twenty-first century retellings or new legends may use more contemporary, informal language.

Work out how the story will tell of a struggle, e.g. between good and evil, friend and foe, wise and foolish.

When you’ve decided on your main character, decide on the structure you will use and what will be included in each episode/each stage of the journey or quest.

Consider adding ingredients of magic or the supernatural to make your legend different from other kinds of stories.

Use symbols your reader will recognise to help them get involved in the story, e.g. red for anger/danger, darkness for danger/evil, a light or flame for goodness and hope.

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