Every tradition, its own room.

The Milkmaid and Her Pail is a folktale of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1430 about interrupted daydreams of wealth and fame. Ancient tales of this type exist in the East but Western variants are not found before the Middle Ages.

La Llorona (Latin American Spanish: [la ʝoˈɾona]; 'the Crying Woman, the Weeping Woman, the Wailer') is a vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children she drowned in the river.

La Noce de Pierres Breton: An Eured Ven (The Wedding Party) is an alignment of 77 standing stones at the foot of Menez Michael (Saint-Michel-de-Brasparts) in the hills of Brittany.

Lāčplēsis ("The Bear-Slayer") is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it between 1872 and 1887 based on local legends.

Chen Jinggu (simplified Chinese: 陈靖姑; traditional Chinese: 陳靖姑; pinyin: Chén Jìnggū) is a Chinese a historical protective goddess of women, children, and pregnancy, and is believed by her worshippers to be a former Taoist priestess.

The gusle (Serbian Cyrillic: гусле) or lahuta (Albanian: lahutë; related to English lute) is a bowed single-stringed musical instrument (and musical style) traditionally used in the Dinarides region of Southeastern Europe (in the Balkans).

The Lambton Worm is a legend from County Durham in North-East England in the United Kingdom.

The Lancelot–Grail Cycle, also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an influential 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle of unknown authorship written in Old French.

The Leeds Cross is an assembly of fragments of a tenth-century stone sculpture that has been reassembled into a cross, now on display in Leeds Minster. The cross is located below Leeds Minister's pulpit.

A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history.

The legendary horses of Pas-de-Calais are fabulous, diabolical white animals, mentioned in the folklore of Artois, Ternoise and Boulonnais under various names.

Les Lavandières, or the Midnight Washerwomen, are three old washerwomen in Celtic mythology. Names in various Celtic languages include the kannerezed noz in Brittany and the Bean nighe in Gaelic.

The lion's share is an idiomatic expression which now refers to the major share of something. The phrase derives from the plot of a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is used here as their generic title.

Little Red Riding Hood (French: Le Petit Chaperon rouge, German: Rotkäppchen, Italian: Cappuccetto Rosso) is a fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Some later versions include a woodsman.

Liu Chenxiang (Chinese: 刘沉香) is a folk hero and demigod in the Chinese folktale The Magic Lotus Lantern.

The Loch Ness Monster is a creature from folklore that has appeared in popular culture in various genres since at least 1934.

Malaysian literature consists of literature produced in the Malay Peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil.

Mangal-Kāvya (Bengali: মঙ্গলকাব্য; lit. "Poems of Benediction") is a group of Bengali religious texts, composed more or less between 13th and 18th centuries, notably consisting of narratives of indigenous deities of rural Bengal in the soci…

Manimekhala (Pali: Maṇīmekhalā) is a goddess in the Hindu-Buddhist mythology. She is regarded as a guardian of the seas, namely the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea as part of the mythology of Southeast Asia.

Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two types of New Zealand Māori oral history regarding the remote past.

The Mapinguari or Mapinguary is a cryptid from Brazilian folklore. The Mapinguari is often described as an extremely foul-smelling, hairy animal that is distinct from the North American Bigfoot.

A mare (Old English: mære; Danish, Norwegian: mare; Swedish: mara; Polish: mara, zmora; among many others) is a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that sits, walks, or "rides" on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on n…

The Marzbān-nāma (Persian: مرزبان‌نامه, lit. 'Book of Marzban') is an early 13th-century Persian prose work.

Maslenitsa (Belarusian: Масленіца; Russian: Мaсленица [ˈmas⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪnʲɪt͡sə]; Rusyn: Пущаня; Ukrainian: Масниця), also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week, is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday which has…

Maugris or Maugis was one of the heroes of the chansons de geste and romances of chivalry and the Matter of France that tell of the legendary court of King Charlemagne.

Mbeku Igbo: [m̩.be.ku] (from the Igbo word for tortoise) is the trickster tortoise in Igbo and West African folktales.

Meddah is the name given to a traditional Turkish storyteller, who played in front of a small group of viewers, such as a coffeehouse audience.

Meitei folklore is the folklore and mythology of the Meitei people of Manipur, India. Such folklore is traditionally passed from generation to generation.

Mephistopheles ( MEF-ist-OF-il-eez, German: [mefɪˈstoːfəlɛs] ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend.

Merlin (Welsh: Myrddin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a prophet and a magician, along with several other main roles.

Merrow (from Irish murúch, Middle Irish murdúchann or murdúchu) is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore.

Mirza Sahiban (Punjabi: [mɪɾzaː saːɦɪbãː]) also spelled as "Mirza Sahiba" (Punjabi: [mɪɾzaː saːɦɪbãː]) is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy.

The Mizuchi (大虬, 蛟龍, 蛟, 美都知) is a type of Japanese dragon or legendary serpent-like creature, either found in an aquatic habitat or otherwise connected to water. Some commentators perceived it to have been a water deity.

In Greek mythology, Mnemosyne ( ; Ancient Greek: Μνημοσύνη, pronounced [mnɛːmosýːnɛː]) was one of the Titans, who are the children of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). She was the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses by Zeus.

Greek folklore is the folk tradition that has developed among the Greek people in and outside Greece over the centuries.

Epic poetry, or tuuli in Mongolian, is a substantial genre of Mongol oral literature, with features reminiscent of Germanic alliterative verse. The two most well-known epics are the Jangar and the Geser.

Morgan le Fay (; Welsh and Cornish: Morgen; Modern French: Fée Morgane), alternatively known as Morgan[n]a, Morgain[a/e], Morgant[e], Morg[a]ne, Morgayn[e], Morgein[e], and Morgue[in] among other names and spellings, is a powerful and ambig…

The Mouse Tower (German: Mäuseturm) is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany.

Muiraquitã (Brazilian Portuguese: /mujɾakiˈtɐ̃/, from Tupi mbïraki'tã, "knot of trees", from muyrá / mbyra, "tree", "stick", "wood" and quit, "knot", "wart", "rounded object") is the name given to various types of old artefacts of Amazonian…

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses (Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, romanized: Moúsai, [ˈmuː.sai̯]; singular: Μοῦσα, Moúsa, [ˈmuː.sa]; Greek: Μούσες, romanized: Múses, [ˈmuː.ses]) were the inspirational goddesses of literature, scien…

Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society.

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies, many of which share certain themes across cultural boundaries.

In Mesoamerican folk religion, a nagual or nahual (both from the Nahuatl word nāhualli [naˈwaːlːi]) is a human being who has the power to shapeshift into their tonal animal counterpart.

The Namahage (生剥げ, なまはげ) are demonlike beings portrayed by men wearing hefty oni (ogre) masks and traditional straw capes (mino) during a New Year's ritual, in local northern Japanese folklore of the Oga Peninsula area of Akita Prefecture.

Naqqali or naghghali (lit. 'storytelling; narration'), also known as Persian epic storytelling, is the oldest form of narrating tales in Iran and has long played a significant role in society.

A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc.).

A narrative ballet, also known as classical ballet or story ballet, is a form of ballet that has a plot and characters. It is typically a production with full sets and costumes.

A national myth is a narrative about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as important national symbols and affirm a set of national values.

The nixie, nixy, nix, neck, or nicker (Old English: nicor; Danish: nøkke; Dutch: nikker, nekker; Estonian: näkk; Faroese: nykur; Finnish: näkki; German: Nixe; Icelandic: nykur; Norwegian Bokmål: nøkk, nøkken; Nynorsk: nykk; Swedish: näck, n…

Netherlandish Proverbs (Dutch: Nederlandse Spreekwoorden; also called Flemish Proverbs, The Blue Cloak or The Topsy Turvy World) is a 1559 oil-on-oak-panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder that depicts a scene in which humans and, to a …

The newspaper riddle is a riddle joke or conundrum in English that begins with the question: Q: What is black and white and red all over? The traditional answer, which relies upon the identical pronunciation of the words "red" and "read", …

The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend.

Night ravens (also stylized nightravens; Danish and Norwegian: nattravn; Swedish: nattramn, nattkorp; German: Nachtkrapp, Nachtrabe) are creatures of European folklore, predominantly described as raven like creatures appearing in the night.…

Nitida saga (medieval manuscript spelling) or Nítíða saga (normalised Old Norse and modern Icelandic spelling), also known as Nítíða saga frægu ('the saga of Nítíða the renowned') is a fictional late medieval Icelandic romance saga thought …

Norse cosmology is the account of the universe and its laws by the ancient North Germanic peoples.

Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period.

The nuckelavee ( ) or nuckalavee is a horse-like demon from Orcadian folklore that combines equine and human elements.

The numbers three, nine, and other multiples of three are significant numbers in Germanic paganism.

Obake (お化け) and bakemono (化け物) are a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures in Japanese folklore.

The Odyssey (, ODD-iss-ee; Ancient Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, romanized: Odýsseia [odyˈsːeːˌja]) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer.