No objections from me, Joe. Modern story inventors such as Tolkien or Rowling will add many details to support or illustrate the message, or just for the fun of it - quite a legitimate purpose. Inevitably they rely on older narratives, whether on purpose or not, but try to emphasize their originality - as copyright and public expectations demand.

For genuine mythologies and legends (including folk songs), being based on older tales is the main point. Some of these tales are likely to have originated in ordinary life, and researchers find it interesting to identify them. A real-life origin seems particularly likely, though by no means proven, of those details that do not make an obvious sense for the message. A man named Enoch who suffered from Altzheimer's may well have lived - no big deal, if we disregard the ("symbolic") time specifications.

The "message" is indeed the important thing, and in my view it cannot always be decoded as in a modern story - not only because mythologies are more cryptic or we lack some information, but because part of the message is of a different type. Jewish culture is particularly conscious of that idea of collective historic identity, not only based on decipherable "wisdom". In fact all mankind are in existential need of such identity, whether they want it or not, to cope with elementary feelings and facts of their lives and deaths. (Persons who believe their personality to be based on science and ethics are simply in error.)

As I mentioned, adults in modern societies cannot possibly have the same beliefs as their ancestors, and neither as their children, but they should transform their faith instead of (vainly) trying to cast it off or to keep it intact. I would like to reject the term "religious belief" entirely, in its modern sense. Faith may be a more adequate term, if used properly. My own thoughts of it are not sufficiently clear to make me a prophet, but they make me shy away from those popular drawers concerning religion.