| A | B |
|---|
| oral tradition | the passing of stories from generation to generation by word of mouth |
| universal theme | message about life that can understood by people of all cultures |
| fantasy | is highly imaginative and contains elements that are not found in real life |
| personification | the act of giving nonhuman subjects human characteristics |
| irony | involves surprising, or amusing contradictions. Things do not turn out as one would expect |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration or overstatement |
| dialect | the form of language spoken by a particular group of people |
| local customs | the unique or different traditions or ways of life of a particular people |
| folk tales | stories told over generations, and eventually written down that deal with the shared ideas of a culture. They often deal with heroes, adventure, magic, or romance |
| fables | brief stories with animal characters that teach a moral or lesson. It is directly stated at the end of the fable. |
| myths | fictional tales that explain the actions of the gods and heroes or explain a phenomena such as the weather. |
| mythology | a collection of myths |
| legends | stories based on fact, however, they may tend to be more fictional or exaggerated when describing characters and their actions |
| allusion | reference to a well known person, place, event or literary work |
| Folk literature | Includes folk tales, fables, myths, legends, folk songs, fairy tales and epics |
| Leo Tolstoy | Russian author of fables, "War and Peace" |
| James Thurber | American author of fables, and a famous cartoonist |
| Aesop | Greek Slave who wrote many fables |
| realistic elements | characters, events or situations that are true to life |
| purpose for reading | the reason you are reading a selection |
