Editing Legend (section)

==Related concepts==
[[File:MataGrifone.jpg|thumb|Giants Mata and Grifone, celebrated in the streets of [[Messina]], Italy, the second week of August, according to a legend are founders of the Sicilian city.]]
[[File:Hübner Bürkner Genoveva.jpg|thumb|The mediaeval legend of [[Genevieve of Brabant]] connected her to [[Treves]].]]

[[Hippolyte Delehaye]] distinguished legend from [[mythology|myth]]: "The ''legend'', on the other hand, has, of necessity, some historical or topographical connection. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localizes romantic stories in some definite spot."<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/delehaye-legends.html Hippolyte Delehaye, ''The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography'' (1907)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110212608/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/delehaye-legends.html |date=2010-01-10 }}, Chapter I: Preliminary Definitions</ref>

From the moment a legend is retold as fiction, its authentic legendary qualities begin to fade and recede: in ''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]'', [[Washington Irving]] transformed a local Hudson River Valley legend into a literary anecdote with [[Gothic novel|"Gothic" overtones]], which actually tended to diminish its character as genuine legend.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Encyclopædia Britannica|title=Britannica Concise Encyclopedia|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2006|isbn=9781593392932|location=Chicago, Illinois|pages=652|chapter=Fable}}</ref>

Stories that exceed the boundaries of "[[Realism (arts)|realism]]" are called "[[fable]]s". For example, the [[talking animal]] formula of [[Aesop]] identifies his brief stories as fables and not legends. The parable of the [[Prodigal Son]] would be a legend if it were told as having actually happened to a specific son of a historical father. If it included a [[donkey]] that gave sage advice to the Prodigal Son it would be a fable.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

Legend may be transmitted orally, passed on person-to-person, or, in the original sense, through written text. [[Jacobus de Voragine]]'s ''Legenda Aurea'' or "The Golden Legend" comprises a series of ''vitae'' or instructive biographical narratives, tied to the [[liturgical calendar]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. They are presented as lives of the saints, but the profusion of miraculous happenings and above all their uncritical context are characteristics of [[hagiography]]. The ''Legenda'' was intended to inspire extemporized homilies and sermons appropriate to the [[saint]] of the day.<ref>Timothy R. Tangherlini, "'It Happened Not Too Far from Here...': A Survey of Legend Theory and Characterization" ''Western Folklore'' '''49'''.4 (October 1990:371–390). A condensed survey with extensive bibliography.</ref>