Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends constitutes Volume III of the author’s eight-volume Philippine Folk Literature Series.

The present volume focuses on the legend, which may simply be defined as an account of an extraordinary happening believed to have actually occurred. The Introduction gives a more detailed characterization of the legend, distinguishes it from the folktale, offers a system classification, and gives a detailed description, with examples from the collection, of the different types of Philippine legends.

Five types of legends are given here: heroic/historical legends, about epic and culture heroes, historical personages, and persons with extraordinary powers; religious legends, recounting miracles of God and His saints; legends narrating encounters with supernatural beings (aswang, cafre, duende, etc.); miscellaneous legends  about sunken bells, buried treasure. etc.; and place name legends.

Within each category, the legends are arranged by geographical regions—Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.

As in the other volumes in the series, the selections are given in English translation. Like them also, this collection is intended to be national in scope. Care was therefore taken to make it as widely representative as possible of the different types of Philippine legends and of the different ethno-linguistic groups in the country.