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This text group is quite problematical, as it traditionally contains a large variety of text forms, whose common features cannot easily be described. In handbooks of Middle English literature, such as The Manual or Renwick-Orton, the term is obviously used to present a blanket label, under which various narrative texts can be subsumed. What the texts have in common is the fact that they are all relatively short and that the narrative mode is their predominant form of text structuring.
On the other hand, the group is very interesting, since it comprises such poems as the Gast of Gy, Dame Sirith, and The Land of Cockaygne.
Following the traditional pattern we sub-divide the text group into four major branches, namely:
- Pious Tales
- Humorous Tales
- Beast Tales
- Collections of Tales
Admittedly, this subdivision is quite arbitrary and in many cases overlaps with other text groups.
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