Browse & Classifications · Narrative classification

Briggs’s Folk Narratives & Legends

Katharine M. Briggs organised A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language (1970–71) into two parts: Folk Narratives, with 5 categories, and Folk Legends, with 14 categories. This reference follows the full dictionary’s headings.

The distinction concerns how a story is presented and understood. The narrative headings group kinds of storytelling; the legend headings mainly group subjects. A legend’s claim to describe an actual event is part of its context, not verification that the event occurred.

Part A · 5 categories

Folk Narratives

Tales presented for entertainment or instruction, rather than chiefly as reports of actual events.

Briggs’s Folk Narratives categories, in the dictionary’s order
CategoryWhat it covers
1. Fables and Exempla Animal stories or illustrative anecdotes that convey a moral or lesson.
2. Fairy Tales Wonder tales whose plots turn on magic or supernatural happenings.
3. Jocular Tales Comic stories of tricks, foolishness, misunderstandings and other humorous situations.
4. Novelle Realistic tales whose plots do not require an explicitly supernatural cause.
5. Nursery Tales Stories told to children, including repetitive tales and frightening tales.

Part B · 14 categories

Folk Legends

Traditions presented as accounts of events believed or claimed to have happened, often tied to people or places.

Briggs’s Folk Legends categories, in the dictionary’s order
CategoryWhat it covers
1. Black Dogs Apparitions of uncanny dogs, often associated with particular roads or places.
2. Bogies Encounters with boggarts, goblins and other uncanny or frightening beings.
3. Devils Legends of the Devil, diabolic bargains and encounters with demonic powers.
4. Dragons Accounts of dragon-like monsters and struggles against them.
5. Fairies Traditions about fairy beings and their dealings with people.
6. Ghosts Hauntings, apparitions and encounters with the returning dead.
7. Giants Legends of giant beings and their traces in the landscape.
8. Historical Traditions Traditional stories associated with named figures or remembered events.
9. Local Legends Accounts attached to particular places, landmarks or local communities.
10. Origin Myths Traditional explanations for the beginnings of customs, features or natural phenomena.
11. Saints Legends about saints, their deeds, miracles and local associations.
12. The Supernatural Uncanny events, omens, visions and other extraordinary occurrences.
13. Witches Accounts of witchcraft, harmful magic, transformations and responses to them.
14. Miscellaneous Legends Legend traditions that do not fit neatly into the other headings.

Using the framework

These headings organise British material in the English language. They are a useful comparative reference, with boundaries that can overlap or depend on the telling context.

“Fairy Tales” in Part A describes a kind of narrative; “Fairies” in Part B groups legends about fairy beings. Magic or fairy characters alone do not settle which part a story belongs to. Consider its framing, setting and the belief expressed by its teller or community.

Each category has its own stable link for citation and future narrative cross-referencing. Narrative associations will follow later analysis.

Related references: Propp’s Functions and Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

Sources and terminology

Briggs, Katharine M. A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language: Incorporating the F. J. Norton Collection. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970–71. Part A, Folk Narratives (1970), two volumes; Part B, Folk Legends (1971), two volumes.

The category list follows the full dictionary, including “Origin Myths” among the fourteen legend headings. The descriptions are brief editorial summaries; the numbers are reference positions within each part.





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