ABSTRACT
In the strict sense of the term, a myth is held to be a story which refers to a world order existing prior to the present order, whose aim is to explain not local and limited situations in detail but an organic law of the nature of things. The highly dramatic nature of mythological images, their indecency, their extremely direct and explicit mode of communication, their resistance to any form of censorship bear a great similarity with both drives and dreams, the difference being that they belong to the sphere of the collective rather than that of the individual. Kerenyi, a historian who has applied Jungian concepts, considers myth to be the direct expression of one's cultural vision of the world. In more general terms, myth may illustrate the common features shared by death and paedophilia. The problem of the relationship between myth and fairy tale has interested scholars of various disciplines: folklore, anthropology, psychoanalysis and mythology.
