![]() ![]() Two tales of business ripoffs are cited to illustrate ""the interaction of news media with oral tradition"" (manifest, in fact, throughout) and the history of one of these, ""Red Velvet Cake,"" demonstrates what the book has to offer. ![]() Brunvand, a University of Utah folklorist and author of The Study of American Folklore, opens with some routine pointers on legends and legend interpretation-identifying the ""three essential elements"" of living legends, for example, as ""a strong basic story appeal, a foundation in actual belief, and a meaningful message or 'moral.'"" The meat of the book is a catalogue, in effect, of widespread (not necessarily ""urban"") legends, and their variations: the title story and other classic auto legends, teenage scare stories (""The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs,"" ""The Pet-or Baby-in the Oven""), horrendous discoveries (""The Kentucky Fried Rat,"" ""Alligators in the Sewers""), tales of purloined corpses (""The Dead Cat in the Package,"" ""The Runaway Grandmother""), and amatory embarrassments (or, caught-in-the-nude). ![]() A modest, workmanlike introduction to the very idea of extant legends in everyday life, with examples of various types. ![]()
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