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'''Legend''' is what you get left when ''history'' has fossilised part of the Past, and some more has been wardrobed into ''[[tradition]]''.  Legend tends also to be the bits which people don't want you to believe (for example that the [[Norse]] were ever anything other than polite well-mannered people who navigated long distances to bring culture and civilization to Other Lands.  And all that about burning down [[monastery|monasteries]] and so on is pure legend -- because, by now, the [[Norman]]s are the Governing Class).

In [[period]], legends were probably as much a part of historicity as chronicles.  Many people couldn't/didn't [[literacy|read and write]], and the oral version, spoken and heard, was (unless by way of a [[bard]] who 'as-we-all-know' have flawless recall and a total commitment to veracity no matter what) basically one person's version of what had (or ought to have) happened.

Legend allows for a re-editing process to shade the past without actually destroying it.  Without it, the trolls would be stone-dead, the [[dragon]]s just lizards with bad breath, and [[King Arthur|Arthur]] a Hollywood caricature.

In short, Legend is the '''''[[mythology|myth]]'''''ing link

''See also:''
* [[No Shit, There I Was]] stories
* [[Urban legend]]s