Myths, legends, and folklore

I got to thinking (now, I know, everyone is saying “Oh no, not again!”)
What is the difference between a Myth, a legend, and or folklore.
I looked it up and although they are similar, they are also dissimilar.

A myth is a traditional story that may answer life’s hardest questions, such as the origins of the world. I guess it’s a way to try to explain what can be said to be unexplainable.
Folktales are a means of explaining how people deal with life’s trials.
A legend is a story that’s purported to be historical in nature but that is without substantiation.

I want to discuss Robin Hood. He is known as the “good bandit”,
robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. But there is no real evidence that this man (and his merry men)existed.
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw *originally depicted in English folklore*.

Fact or fiction?

There are many references to men with similar names that have been thought to be possible evidence that he was a real person. Some dating back to the late 13th century. I’m not sure that I subscribe to Wiki’s interpretation of this ‘person’.

The folklore has Robin hood in the time of Richard I, the lion hearted. King Richard commanded the 3rd crusade to recapture Jerusalem. He failed but was he was captured shortly before Christmas 1192 near Vienna by Leopold of Austria, Not Saladin, the Muslim leader.
Richard was ransomed and 1194 was released. king Philip sent a message to John: “Look to yourself; the devil is loose”.[[107]](Richard I of England - Wikipedia)
In the meantime John, brother of Richard, sat the throne of England.
It was believed that then, Robin Hood came into ‘being’. He fought against the Sherriff of Nottingham, an official, appointed by King John and was supposedly as corrupt as the King.
Richard forgave John when they met again and named him as his heir in place of their nephew, Arthur.

The only real documentation I found was a reference to Folk ballads. The oldest surviving ballad, [Robin Hood and the Monk]* , gives even less support to the picture of Robin Hood as a partisan of the true king.
So was he a legend, a myth, or was he a creation of folklore?
So I suggest that origin of Robin Hood is as clear as where Noah left the ark. But that’s a whole nother’ story.
Robin Hood and the Monk - Wikipedia)

Please take 2 aspirin for the headache I’ve given you.
Blessings
Garnet
P.S. There is still a Sherriff of Nottingham. He is Jamaican born Councillor* Merlita Bryan

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Awesome, I did not know the difference! Thanks so much @Garnet
:heart:

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That is an excellent question! :star_struck: I use the terms interchangeably, but now I can see there are differences between them.

I can imagine it can get more confusing when terms overlap- like fairy tale folk lore :fairy: :open_book:

Very interesting! Thank you Garnet :heart::books:

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