One was her almost mythic reputation, which inspired the balladeers of her time.

The film had a limited release at the time but developed a mythic reputation over the years.

The anxiety about a new Fed chairman reflects worries about Mr. Greenspan's nearly mythic reputation as the most powerful and effective central banker of modern times.

The Hospital has an almost mythic reputation for healing and was one of the most popular Hospitals in the region.

Among the starters, the black bean soup has acquired a mythic reputation.

And there's Ted Plunkett, a small-town deputy who feels honored to have met a man with as mythic a reputation as Captain Call.

Last week he was stoking Mr. Ravitch's almost mythic reputation for repairing any public institution he has touched.

There, the gun achieved a mythic reputation.

Nominating a successor could be President Bush's biggest economic decision next year, given Mr. Greenspan's mythic reputation as the guardian of price stability and economic growth.

Marquez, like many of the novel's characters, has a mythic reputation, a cartoonish simplicity of character and a gruffly nurturing soul.