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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Oral traditions grow and develop and dependent upon the social environment in which they exist, can serve valuable social functions of moderating, controlling, teaching, the people who hear those traditions. Since the needs of a community are seldom fixed, but vary according to many factors, the oral traditions change to serve the needs of the community.
The nature of an oral tradition is that it is a tool that serves the community.
Thus, what we see in a 1935 (for example) record of the oral tradition is the 1935 version of that tradition, not the 1435 version of it.And most certainly not the record of facts that gave rise to that original 1435 version.
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When I was in secondary school, I was taught by my teacher about how "the oral traditions' grow. In a play, consisted of more than five pupils, my teacher whispered silently to the first pupil -- a short sentence. Then, the first pupil was ought to whisper his pal beside him the same short sentence. And the last pupil was ought to report to the teacher, what sentence he heard. And that was happened. The last pupil "reported" the whispers in very different meaning from the original.... That was only ten minutes discrepancy. Then, what happened if the "oral tradition" endured for a century, two centuries, three centuries? And not just for a short sentence?
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