The Passage of Time and Different Narrations of a Story

In all oral traditions, so far a tale is not written down and is carried down through generations by heart, its primary structure would most likely be changed or distorted. The more the time passes, these changes accumulate more until the tale may be completely different from the real and original one. Main character's identity and the reality of events may also be distorted during this alteration time. Since oral tales are of great importance to Sufism, there are many examples of these changes in this culture. Sometimes written tales move to the realm of oral tradition and then back again into the written form with changes in some aspects.