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Spanish and Portuguese folklore consists of such as legends, fairy tales, ghost stories and mythology. Different regions speak of their own folklore too, as Catalan folklore.

Spanish Folktales

The folklore collector Rachel H. Busk tells that Spanish folkltales "will seem to you at first very like other stories you have read, but if you follow them attentively you will trace many singular national characteristics (Busk 1870:5)." A list of the types of folktales in Spain supports her view. (Boggs 1930)

Portuguese Folktales

The popular types of Portuguese tales have much in common with tales among other European peoples. Professor Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso (1851–1910) collected many Portuguese tales. The types of tales may be grouped according to what they are about. Here are some free-flowing suggestions:

Looking good at last: The biggest group consists of tales about having a supernatural spouse that is temporarily condemned to look unattractive. They are of the same type as "Beauty and the Beast", or "Cupid and Psyche": At last a spell may be brought to an end and victims of it may rise and shine.

"Cinderella" has its counterparts. In Pedroso's collection there are two or three of them, depending on how the tales are classified. The heroine may be protected and helped out of trouble by a friendly cow or a fish she has rescued, as the case may be.

Bride in distress: There is also a "Replaced Bride" in some tales. In such tales the real bride is done away with by cruel, envious impostors. At the close of such impostor tales a need to take care of the impostor is seen - she may be executed!

Innocent, but wronged: "The Calumniated Wife" may be an innocent mother that is accused of some serious crime, for example that of eating her children. Then she has to prove she is innocent, contary to good court manners that it is the accuser that is to provide proofs of guilt, and hearsay is not good enough.

Those who talk: Sometimes a confidant tells of plots ahead or past, and animals and birds can manage to reveal many things, they too. Moreover, those who spare a talking fish, may get greater gifts from it - And grateful beasts appear in some tales.

Enchantment is a leading feature of many folk stories. A prince under some spell is part of some tales. Or a hag may kill or bewitch a lot of people, and a hero may come to their rescue somehow.

Also, the daughter of a witch may or may not be as bad as her mother, if she falls in love. In such cases she may rise to defend her chosen man against her own mother, or rise to challenge her mother.

The heroine is saved from drudgery and nasty work: In some tales there are ugly characters who say they came to look that way as a result of hard work for long, and the heroine is saved from much hard labour.

Miscellaneous: In one tale a vain queen tries to kill a girl who that is prettier than her. Another story: A swineherd's hut shines like a palace for housing a good girl.