American Folk Tales, Myths & Legends: A to Z
Click on a letter to read a summary of the American folk tales beginning with that letter.
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Eavesdropper
A Maryland man learns a hard lesson about eavesdropping.
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Echoes
A Minnesota settler longs for the echoing mountains of home.
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Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen gets a toothache.
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The Fisherman and the Bear
An old fisherman meets his match. (Maine)
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The First Tears
Eskimo tale about the origins of tears. (Alaska)
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The Fifty-cent Piece
A couple spend a night at a haunted house. (New York)
- The Flying Canoe
A group of lonely lumberjacks pay a bitter price when they go home for New Years. (Quebec)
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Fog
If you thought England's fogs were thick, you should see a fog in Maine.
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Frozen Flames
What do you do when the lanterns freeze? Call Paul Bunyan. (Michigan)
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Fur-Bearing Trout
Colorado Fisherman developed a new trout catching technique following the visit of a hair tonic salesman.
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- Invisible hands
A couple of Comstock miners meet a couple of bucca working the late shift.
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La Llorona
The ghost of a woman searches the river banks for her sons.
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La Mala Hora
A woman meets a spectre on her way to a friend's house.
- The Lady in Lace
A beautiful ghost walks the shores near Pebble Beach, California.
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The Log Jam
Paul Bunyan and Babe clear a log jam in Wisconsin.
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- The Maid of the Mist
The tale of the maiden who lived behind the falls of Niagara and the origin of the famous horseshoe falls.
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Milk bottles
Day after day, a woman comes to the store for milk and leaves without paying.
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Mississippi Mosquitoes
And you thought your mosquitoes were bad!
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- Rabbit Plays Tug-of-War
Rabbit tricks two water Snakes into playing tug-of-war.
- Rainbow Crow
The snow has come to Earth and all the animals are freezing. Can Rainbow Crow save them?
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Riverboat Racing
An old woman is afraid of racing, until her riverboat is challenged by a rival. (Kentucky)
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Sam Hyde
Old Sam Hyde tells a tall tale and earns himself a glass of cider.
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Sangamon County
Where is the most beautiful place in the world? (Illinois)
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The Sheep Herder's Lawsuit
A sheep herder bleats himself out of a heavy fine in the "baa"-verlous story!
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Sinks
Nevada rivers flow into a series of lakes with no outlets. So what happens to all that water? It sinks!
- The Skeleton's Lantern
An eight-foot skeleton roams the Arizona desert near Yuma.
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Slide-Rock Bolters
Tourists, beware! Deep in the mountains of Colorado lurk the slide-rock bolters.
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Spuyten Duyvil
New Amsterdam is under attack. Can a brave trumpeter warn the people in time? (New York)
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The Talking Mule
Even mules deserve a day off now and then. (South Carolina)
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Taming the Whistling River
Paul Bunyan gets tired of being mocked by the Whistling River and decides to do something about it. (Minnesota)
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The Telltale Seaweed
An overnight stay in an abandoned Cape Cod house reveals a ghost. (Massachusetts)
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Teething Toy
What would you give your baby to teeth on if you lived in Deadwood, South Dakota?
- Tommy Knockers
The spirits of departed miners help miners find ore and knock on the walls right before a cave-in.
- The Trickster Tricked
(In which Terrapin the Turtle outwits the Trickster Rabbit) Turtle and Rabbit decide to run a race. Guess who wins?
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The Twist-Mouth Family
Find out what a college education is good for.
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© S.E. Schlosser 1997 - 2008.
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