OK, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I am again watching a mockumentary on the Hitler Channel - Unearthing Ancient Secrets, Kublai Khans Lost Fleet.
So, we have some archeologist desperately trying to find the site that the fleet sank. He apparently doesn’t know which island, nor which harbor the invasion ended up at.
How come I happen to have a fairly old book that states
And LO! and behold, some mayor of some village has some artifact locked in a safe in his office that is mongolian that lets this dweeb figure out the exact same information in my book that was written about 100 years ago?
Doesn’t anybody have any local folktales about building the damned fence, nor any folk tale about the fleet that sank in that there bay over there, nor any governmental record about the decree to build?
A folktale wouldn’t reference the building of a wall: that would be a legend. (In science terms, this is like calling an electron a proton: not interchangeable!) Because of the way oral tradition works, it is very easy to substitute “Chinese” for “Mongols” for “Martians” (or whatever) in a legend. In other words, even if you had a local legend, it would not necessarily be a record of history, though it could be a guide. (For instance, the legend probably wouldn’t substitute “Mongols” for “Tsumani.”)
There are a lot of good ways to use oral tradition in the study of history, but unfortunately most people tend to assume stories are 100% true or 100% false and don’t know how to really use them.
That said, good historical methods and good TV are two different things. I always think the History Channel prefers the latter over the former.