Were there stories in medieval/ancient times that were known or accepted as fictional? If so, what were they about?

by HughBertComberdale

The idea of "legends and myths" being passed down via word of mouth is quite a common one. How realistic is this? Did people tell tales of strange beasts and lands as fictional stories, as we do today?

EyeStache

Do you mean in oral tradition, or in written form? Because if you mean in written form, there are loads of available options in Old Icelandic/Old Norse, in the form of fornaldarsögur and riddarasögur. These sagas - literally 'ancient stories' and 'knight stories' - contained elements of the fantastic and purely fictional.

A good example of a riddarasaga would be Viktors saga ok Blávus, about a fictional king of France and his magic carpet-riding buddy, who happened to be king of a far-off southern land. Thoroughly fictional and presented as fiction. Here's a good list of them, including some translations.

Insofar as fornaldarsögur, a good one would be Hrólfs saga kraka, which involved a character - Böðvarr bjarki, who might well be related to the character Beowulf - that could take the form of a bear in battle.

These sagas dealt with moral or ethical issues in clearly fantastical settings, and were not intended to be taken as literal events.