Types of Folklore

Myths try to explain the why of what happens in our lives, deaths, and the forces of nature. Why are there lights in the sky? Why do we have cold winters and hot summers? Why do leaves change in autumn? The heroes and heroines of such stories are often called gods and goddesses, and may be based on actual people. This is the earliest form of folklore, usually separated as higher in thought from the other types in that is considered as old religion, sually not in current common practice. Some of them are purely memory devices used by the ancients, many with intentional meaning, which are hard to separate from actual belief.

Fables teach people how they should live. Often the characters are animals which are thinly disguised people or types of people. A moral is stated at the end. A Greek slave named Aesop collected fables. Other famous collectors were Geoffrey Chaucer and Jean de la Fontaine.
Legends teach, but are closer to life than fables. They may be partly true about actual people and/or events. Often humans and supernatural creatures exist together. Examples are the legends of King Arthur and of Robin Hood
Fairy Tales are meant to entertain, slipping in the author's views about life. Usually it contains a command which if broken will cause trouble, a way of reminding children and underlings to do as they are told. It happens in an unreal world full of supernatural events and the use of magic by both good and evil characters. Cinderella, for instance, is a story which could not have happened without the magical intervention of a fairy godmother, but she must leave the ball before midnight.