The stories of oral tradition fulfill a function of social integration. It is novel to think of stories from the perspective of the institution of political power, from the categories of ideology and legitimation. Apparently, there would be an analogous structure between the great stories that give rise to the contractarian theories of the modern state and the way in which power operates in tales of oral tradition. It is tempting to think that an ideological function would operate, that by using violence, fear, surveillance and punishment, they have the purpose of establishing relations of domination. The study is applied to the case of traditional stories from the Venezuelan and Colombian Llanos and the province of Manabí-Ecuador.