THE STUFF OF LEGENDS

Patt Morrison commits a folklore faux pas in “The Mything Link” (Three on the Town, Sept. 13) in regard to her blurry approach to narrative genres. Among folklorists, fables are generally considered to be didactic tales with anthropomorphized animals playing the major roles. Myths are thought of as stories about the origin of the cosmos and other sacred narratives.

What Morrison alludes to are called legends, the provenance of which is indeterminable and irrelevant. What is important is that people tell these stories. Even rumors, irrespective of their truth, qualify as legends since a rumor is nothing more than a hyperactive legend.

TIMOTHY R. TANGHERLINI

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UCLA

Los Angeles