Cuento may specifically refer to folk tales, a category of folklore that includes stories passed down through oral tradition.
[4] Hispanist Ralph S. Boggs [de] also remarked on the popularity of types 313 ("The Magic Flight"), 408 ("The Three Oranges"), 425 ("The Search for the Lost Husband"), 706 ("The Maiden Without Hands") and 707 ("The Three Golden Sons").
[5] Latin American tales are unique in that they may represent a time before European invasion, and they may combine those traditions with the history and culture that arrived post-conquest.
[6] Pre-conquest information can only be found in what is left behind; this includes archaeological artifacts, sculpture and pottery, stories engraved in bone, shell, and stones, and codices.
The purpose of the study was to make "accessible to folklorists both the individual types and the broad picture of the folktale in a large part of Spanish America".