II. THE PRINCIPAL NARRATIVE GENRES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT A. SAGA A SAGA is a long, prose, traditional narrative. It has typically an episodic structure developed around stereotyped themes or topics. These episodic units might be pieces of narrative tradition that were in themselves originally independent of the saga. Indeed, they may include narratives that represent quite distinctive genres in themselves. Thus, a saga will comprise a series of TALES, REPORTS, LEGENDS, ANECDOTES, HYMNS, and various