THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF MYTH
Myths can to a large extent be classified, and most important myths may
be grouped under one of the following heads:
Creation myths (creation of the earth and man).
Myths of the origin of man.
Flood myths.
Myths of a place of reward.
Myths of a place of punishment.
Sun myths.
Moon myths.
Hero myths.
Beast myths.
Myths to account for customs or rites.
Myths of journeys or adventures through the Underworld
or place of the dead.
Myths regarding the birth of gods.
Fire myths.
Star myths.
Myths of death.
Food of the dead formula.
Myths regarding taboo.
'Dismemberment' myths (in which a god is dismembered).
Dualistic myths (the good god fighting the bad).
Myths of the origin of the arts of life.
Soul myths.
The first five classes are treated in this volume, in separate chapters
or otherwise, according to their importance. Sun myths have already
been dealt with individually, as have culture-hero or hero myths,[1]
moon myths, beast myths, ritual myths, and birth of gods myths, which
leaves for discussion in this chapter fire myths, star myths, myths
of death, myths regarding taboo, 'dismemberment' myths, and dualistic
myths.
FIRE MYTHS
Fire myths are of two descriptions: those which relate to the
destruction of the world by fire and those which tell how fire was
stolen from heaven by a demigod, hero, or supernatural bird or other
animal. Of the first class it is surprising what a large proportion
come from the American continent. In the Old World we have the Jewish
idea of a universal conflagration of the 'last day' (not unknown to the
childhood of the present generation), the Norse belief that fire should
end the heavens and the earth, and (according to Seneca) the Roman
idea that some such fate would ultimately overtake the world of men
and things; but it is to America that we must go for really striking
and picturesque myths of the destruction of the earth by fire in whole
or part. Thus the Arawaks of Guiana tell of a dreadful scourging by
fire sent upon them by the Great Spirit Aimon Kondi, from which the
survivors escaped by taking refuge in underground caverns. Monan,
the creator of the Brazilian Indians, vexed with mankind, resolved
to destroy the world by fire, and would have succeeded had not Irin
Magé, a crafty wizard, extinguished the flames by a heavy rain-storm.
The Aztecs at the end of each cycle of fifty-two years dwelt in dread
lest the period for the destruction of the earth by fire had at last
arrived, and the Peruvians believed that following an eclipse the world
would be wrapped in devouring flames. In North America the Algonquin
Indians believe that at the last day Michabo will stamp his foot upon
the earth, and lo! flames will spring up and devour it. A similar
belief was held by the Pueblo Indians and the ancient Maya of Central
America.
FIRE-STEALING MYTHS
Another class of fire myth is that in which a supernatural being,
usually a bird, steals fire from Heaven and brings it to earth for the
benefit of mankind. The best-known example of this type of myth is that
which recounts how Prometheus brought fire from Olympus in a hollow
cane or tube. As has been shown elsewhere in this volume, the myth is
almost universal, and the reader is referred to the comparative table
at the end of this chapter.
STAR MYTHS
The numerous star myths, the general character of which is of fairly
uniform type throughout the world, deal less with single stars than
with groups of stars. Where Heaven is the original theatre of creation
and the ancestor-land to which the spirits of the forefathers return,
as stars, the constellations are, so to speak, the illustration of
the cosmogonic legend, the images of objects, animals, persons, which
appear therein. Other constellations are formed by their readily
perceived similarity to objects and persons, and a myth is invented
in explanation. These things are brought into connexion with one
another and woven into a narrative, in which one idea gives rise to
others. The conception and meaning of such pictures is naturally very
varied among individual races, but on the other hand very similar
where the characteristic forms and groupings of the constellations
must suggest the same or related ideas to independent observers. The
constellations which belong to this class are, for example, Orion,
the Cross, the Pleiades, the Great Bear, and the Milky Way. Ideas
of the Pleiades as heaps of grain, swarms of small animals, birds,
bees, kids, or groups of people playing, are universal. But nowhere
is the star myth so original or striking as in South America, and as
the constellation legends of that sub-continent are but little known,
we shall furnish the reader with some account of them in preference
to the more hackneyed star tales of Europe and Asia. The Pleiades
are thus wheat among the Bakairi, dwarf-parrots among the Moxos and
Karayas, bee-swarms among the Tupi, and other tribes. Only among the
Makusi in the south is a parallel to be found to the widely spread
North American myth which supposes the Pleiades to be children carried
off to Heaven while playing in a dance. The Southern Cross is very
variously treated. The idea of its being the tracks of an emu seems to
be limited to South America, but is very widespread there, for example,
among the Bororos and Karayas, inhabitants of the steppe districts. As
the four outstanding stars of the Cross lie in the Milky Way, one may
identify the four-eyed jaguar which in the Yurakare myth escapes the
vengeance of the hero Tin, and, calling upon the moon, is raised to
Heaven. The Milky Way, as the most prominent appearance in the darkened
heavens at night, receives universal attention, but has given rise to
the most diverse traditions. Like the Bushmen and other Africans, the
Bororos and Karayas believe that the Milky Way is an ash-track. This,
as well as the guanaco track of the Patagonians, resembles the 'Path
of the Gods' of the Romans, the bird-track of the Esthonians, and the
'Jacob's ladder' of the medieval church, while the Milky Way seems to
be considered as a path of souls by some of the Bolivian nations. Its
conception as a stream or lake has not been definitely traced in South
America. On the other hand, it appears that its peculiar branching
formation caused it to be likened to a tree, and this belief finds
expression in the Arawak legend of the world-tree of Akawiro, which
bore not only all known fruits and plants, but also all organic beings.
Among the central Caribs of the Bakairi it is a hollow tree-stem,
such as is used among them as a drum, its roots spreading southward
and apart from each other. In its neighbourhood the first acts of the
mythical twin-heroes Keri and Kame were performed, and among the Caribs
even to this day are co be seen living animals which originally issued
from its trunk.
The distinctly circumscribed, sharply defined shape of Orion is
compared by the Indian with familiar objects of a rhomboidal form, or
similar shaped animals. The Bakairi see in this constellation a dried
stack of manioc, the Karayas a beetle, the Ipurinas a turtle, and
so on. In myths he appears first in connexion with the neighbouring
star-groups of the Pleiades and Hyades (Aldebaran). He then becomes
among the Indians a mighty hunter who follows a female, our Pleiades,
as Orion in the Greek legends pursues the daughters of Pleion, with
whom he had fallen in love, until they are changed by Zeus into a swarm
of doves. So in the legend of the Caribs of Guiana the hunter Seriko
goes after his faithless wife Wailya, whom the Tapir (Hyades group) had
taken away from him.
The wifely relationship of the Pleiades with the Indian Orion is also
met with under the sign of Seuci (Tupi), Ceiguce (Amazonia), though it
cannot be said that the idea can solely be ascribed to the Tupi. The
myth tells how a girl of the kindred Uaupe race (Tariana or Temiana)
flees her village in order to escape from the local marriage customs
and enters the house of a Yacami chief who takes her to wife. She
brings forth two eggs, from which a boy and girl are hatched, both
ornamented with stars. The girl, decked with seven stars, is Seuci;
the boy, Pinon, is girdled with a star-serpent, and perhaps Orion's
belt. The children return home with their mother, where the boy secures
recognition by the performance of prodigies, such as the slinging of
giant stones.
MYTHS OF DEATH AND TABOO
Myths of death are obviously ætiological--that is, manufactured _ad
hoc_, to account for death, usually regarded by primitive peoples as
an unnatural event, due to magic or the breaking of a taboo or the
neglect of some ritual act. Thus death was let loose upon the world by
the breaking of the taboo or prohibition which had been placed upon
the opening of Pandora's box. The apple myth of Adam and Eve bears
similar evidences of the idea of taboo. An Australian myth recounts how
a woman approaches a forbidden tree and thus meets her doom. Several
myths relate how death came into the world through the agency of
Night--obviously a connexion of mortality with the phenomenon of sleep.
Thus a Polynesian myth tells how Mani tried to pass through Night, but
a little bird sang and awakened the night-monster, who ate Mani up. In
Southern India it is believed that "the death-snake bites while God
sleeps." A Central African story tells that when sleep was unknown in
the world a woman offered to teach a man how to sleep. She held her
victim's nostrils so hard that he could not breathe, but died.
Taboo myths of importance are not so numerous as might be supposed.
Perhaps the chief is the tale of Cupid and Psyche. In its later form
the bride was forbidden to look upon her husband, but her curiosity
overcame her fear and she beheld his face, with dire results. This myth
is, of course, a legacy from an age when for various reasons it was
taboo for a woman to see her husband for some time after her marriage,
just as it is to-day among certain African peoples, the 'reasons' being
to neutralize the dangers supposed to be attendant upon the matrimonial
state. Akin to this is the name-taboo, found in the story of Lohengrin,
whose bride is not permitted to ask the name and rank of her lord and
master, the reason being that the real name, like the soul, is part
of one's personality and that it is dangerous for any other person to
know it, a pseudo-name being commonly employed among many savage races.
Thus, if the names of certain evilly disposed supernatural beings are
known and pronounced their power disappears, as in the well-known
stories of Tom-tit-tot and Rumplestiltskin.
THE DISMEMBERMENT MYTH
It has been thought that such dismemberment myths as those of Osiris,
Dionysus, and Demeter, the Algonquin Lox, and the Polynesian Tangoroa
have their origin in a primitive custom, the dismemberment of a human
victim, who was buried in the corn-fields and supposed to renew his
life in the harvest following his burial. It is considered that such a
practice gave birth to the myth of Osiris in Egypt and became symbolic
of resurrection. The practice is probably connected in some manner with
the almost universal savage custom of preserving the bones of the dead
for the owner, who at some future period will desire to claim them.
DUALISM
Dualism is the belief in opposing good and evil deities, and is found
in connexion (1) with such peoples as have advanced far on the path of
theological thought and progress, (2) with races whose original beliefs
have been sophisticated by those of more civilized peoples. A good
example of the first is the widely known Persian myth of Ormuzd and
Ahriman. The second class is well illustrated by the myth of Joskeha
and Tawiscara, already alluded to in dealing with sophisticated myths.
COMPARATIVE TABLES OF MYTHS
The following tables have been compiled for the purpose of bringing
together the most important types of myth and indicating their
geographical incidence. It is not pretended that these are in any way
exhaustive, but much care has been taken in their compilation and it is
hoped that they will assist the student of myth as a ready reference to
parallels.
BIRTH OF GODS MYTHS
_Greeks_.
Zeus, Poseidon, Pluto, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia, children
of Cronus. All but Zeus were swallowed by their father
when infants and all disgorged by him at one time full
grown.
Perseus, son of Zeus and Danaë.
The Dioscuri (Zeus visits their mother Leda as a swan).
_Vedas_.
Agni, both son and father of the gods--son of Heaven and
earth--begotten by the sky, the clouds, and the dawn--born
among men, in Heaven and in the waters.
_Algonquins_. Manibozho, born of a virgin.
_Hurons_. Joskeha, born of a virgin.
_Mexicans_. Quetzalcoatl, born of a virgin; Uitzilopochtli
(ball of feathers falls from heaven into his mother's
breast).
_Peruvians_. Viracocha, born of a virgin.
_Thlinkeets_ (N.W. America). Yetl's mother by advice of
friendly dolphin swallows pebble and sea-water.
_Uapès_ (Brazil). Jurapari (his mother drinks fermented
liquor).
BEAST MYTHS. Beasts and birds are credited with divine or
semi-divine attributes.
_Greeks_.
Io as a cow chased into Egypt by gad-fly sent by Hera.
Amphitryon chases the Cadmean fox with the Athenian dog.
Bellerophon slays the Chimæra with the help of Pegasus.
The Centaurs.
_Caribs_ (Antilles). The ibis.
_Chinooks_ (Colombia River). Blue Jay.
_Aschochimi Indians_ (California). The coyote.
_Thlinkeet Indians_. Yetl the raven.
_Australians_. Pund-jel the eagle-hawk.
_Ahts Indians_ (Vancouver Island). Tootah, the
thunder-bird, universal mother.
_Banks Islanders_. Marawa the spider.
_Tinneh or Déné Indians_ (Hare-skins). Miraculous dog is
creator.
DUALISTIC MYTHS (the good god combating the bad god). This
idea is very general, being found practically all over
the world. The creator of all good things is constantly
thwarted by the evil spirit or principle, who, for every
good and beautiful thing that the beneficent god makes,
produces a corresponding evil.
_Egyptians_.
Osiris and Set or Apep. Ra (light and goodness) and Apep
(darkness and evil).
_Babylonians_. Merodach and Tiawath.
_Persians_. Ormuzd and Ahriman.
_Greeks_.
Zeus and Typhon.
Apollo and Python.
Perseus and the Gorgon.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia).
Thor and Loki.
Sigurd and Fafnir.
_Hindus_. Indra and Ahi or Vritra.
_Hottentots_. Gaunab (bad) and Tsui-Goab (good).
_Algonquin Indians_.
Michabo or Manibozho and the prince of serpents.
Great Manitou, whose heart is the sun, made men.
His wife, the moon, brought disease and death to the race.
Glooskap and Malsum.
_Huron Indians_. Joskeha and Tawiscara.
_Incas_ (Peru). Piguerão (day) and Apocatequil (night).
_Iroquois Indians_. Enigorio and Enigohatgea (Good Mind
and Bad Mind).
_Thlinkeet Indians_. Yetl and Khanukh.
_Tupi-Guarani_ (Brazil). Aricoute (darkness) and Tamandare
(light).
_Australians_. Pund-jel, the eagle-hawk (good) and the
Crow (bad).
_Pentecost Islanders_. Tagar (good) and Suque (bad).
_Banks Islanders_. Qat and Tangaro Lologong (the Fool).
DISMEMBERMENT MYTHS. In which a god or demigod is torn
to pieces and the parts widely scattered and afterward
collected.
_Egyptians_. Osiris and Isis.
_Greeks_.
Orpheus and Eurydice.
Dionysus and Demeter.
Medea and Pelias.
_Finns_ (_Kalevala_ epic). Lemminkainen and his mother.
_Rumanians_. Frounse Werdye and Holy Mother Sunday.
_Russians_. Morevna and Koshchei.
_Bushmen_. Moon cut down by sun; piece left grows.
_Antis Indians_ (Brazil). See Spence, _Dictionary of
Non-Classical Mythology_, p. 43.
_Algonquins_. The demon Lox.
_Caribs_. Story of their ancestor.
_Dindje_. Crow killed by the Navigator.
_Pawnee Indians_. Pa-hu-ka-tawa.
_Zuñi Indians_. Woman beloved by the sun becomes the
mother of twins.
_Madagascar_. Ibonia, joiner together and life-giver.
_Polynesians_. Tangaroa and Mani.
CREATION MYTHS. In these there is nearly always a vast
world of waters, over which broods the creative agency,
who by a spoken word, force of thought (will-power), or by
sheer physical labour creates the earth, or, more often,
raises it from the midst of the watery abyss.
_Babylonians_. Bel or Merodach forms Heaven and earth from
the two halves of the body of Tiawath.
_Persians_. Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), father and creator.
_Greeks_. Uranus (Heaven-Father) and Gæa (Earth-Mother)
beget all things.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia). Ginnungagap, the gulf existent.
World made from body of the giant Ymir.
_Finns (Kalevala_ epic). Eagle hatches the land.
_Hindus_. Brahma, in his avatar as the boar, raised the
earth on his tusks from out the waters and then began his
work of creating.
_Japanese_. Izanagi and Izanami (creative pair).
_Bushmen_. Cagn (the praying mantis) created the world.
_Zulus_. Unkulunkulu (the great ancestor-creator).
_Ahts Indians_ (Vancouver Island). Quawteaht was the
'framer of all things.'
_Algonquin Indians_. Michabo or Manibozho, the Great Hare,
creates all things.
_Arawaks_ (Guiana). Aluberi (from Alin 'He who makes').
_Athapascan Indians_. Yetl, the omnipotent raven,
descended to the ocean from Heaven, and the earth rose.
_Incas_ (Peru). Ataguju is creator of all things.
_Iroquois Indians_. Divine woman falls on turtle (earth).
_Mexicans_. Tonacatecutli breathes and divides the waters
of the heavens and earth.
_Navaho Indians_. Ahsonnatli 'the Turquoise Hermaphrodite'
creates Heaven and earth.
_Oregon Indians_. Coyote is creator.
_Peruvians_. Mama-cocha (the whale), 'Mother Sea,' was the
mother of mankind.
_Pawnees_. Ti-ra-wa or A-ti-us (Atius Tirawa) is creator.
_Papagos Indians_ (Gulf of California). Coyote or
prairie-wolf acts as creator.
_Kiche Indians_. Nothing but the sea and sky, stillness
and darkness. Nothing but the Maker and Moulder, the
Hurler, the Bird-serpent. Under sea, covered with green
feathers, slept the mothers and the fathers. Hurakan
passes over the abyss, calls "Earth," and land appears.
_Tacullies_ (British Columbia). Say earth is mud spat out
of mouth of a pre-existing musk-rat.
_Tinneh or Déné Indians_. The dog is creator.
_Tzentals_ (Chiapas). Alaghom or Iztat Ix, she who brings
forth Mind--the mother of Wisdom--creatrix of the mental
or immaterial part of nature.
_Zuñi Indians_ (New Mexico). Awonawilona creates the world.
(See chapter on cosmogony.)
MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN. These are closely allied to
the creation myths. Man is usually made out of clay or the
'dust of the earth' by a supernatural being, who sometimes
moistens the clay with his or her own blood or sweat, and
imparts to it 'the breath of life.' There is sometimes a
prior creation of wooden men, who are found wanting.
_Greeks_. Prometheus makes man and woman, Deucalion and
Pyrrha.
_Hindus_. Brahma or Prajapati makes man.
_American Indians_ (generally). Man is evolved from
coyotes, beavers, apes, or issued from caves.
_Aztecs_. After the destruction of the world Xolotl
descends to Mictlan and brings a bone of the perished
race. The gods sprinkle this with blood and from it emerge
the progenitors of the present race.
_Hurons_. Joskeha makes men.
_Karaya Indians_ (Brazil). Kaboi led their ancestors from
the Underworld.
_Peruvians_. Apocatequil digs up men from the Underworld
with a golden spade.
_Kiches_ (Central America). The gods in council create
man. At first they make wooden men, the remainder of whom
turn into monkeys. They then create the present race from
yellow and white maize.
_Zuñi Indians_. Janauluha leads men from the Underworld to
the world of day.
_Bushmen_. Men came out of a cave.
_Zulus_. Men came out of beds of reeds.
_Australians_. Pund-jel makes two men from clay, one with
straight and one with curly hair (bark). He dances round
them and breathes life into them.
_Australians_ (Dyiere). Men came out of wattle-gum tree.
_Maoris_ (New Zealand). Tiki makes man of clay.
_Polynesians_ (Mangaians). The woman of the abyss makes
man by tearing from her right side a piece of flesh, which
becomes Vatea, father of gods and men.
_Melanesians_. Qat makes man.
MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF HEROES
_Babylonians_. Story of Sargon.
_Hebrews_. Story of Moses.
_Greeks_.
Perseus, son of Danaë. His father Zeus descended in a
shower of golden rain.
Heracles, son of Zeus, who deceives the mother of Heracles
by pretending to be Amphitryon, her absent husband.
_Romans_. Story of Romulus.
_Celts_. Sagas and romances of Arthur, Merlin, and Beowulf.
_Indians_. Saga of Rama, in _Ramayana_.
_Mexicans_. Uitzilopochtli, myth of his birth.
_Kiches_. Hun-Apu and Xbalanque in the _Popol Vuh_.
_Peruvians_. Ataguju, the creator, begets Guamansuri, who
seduces a woman, who gives birth to two eggs. From these
emerged Apocatequil and Piguerão. Apocatequil was prince
of evil and the most respected hero of the Peruvians.
(See also Culture Myths for other examples.)
MYTHS OF FIRE-STEALING. In which a supernatural
being--usually a bird--steals fire from Heaven and brings
it to earth for the benefit of mankind.
_Greeks_. Prometheus.
_Vedas_. Matarisvan.
_Bretons_. Golden-crested wren.
_Normandy Peasantry_. The wren.
_Ahts Indians_ (Vancouver Island). Quawteaht.
_Athapascan Indians_ (N.W. America). Yetl the raven.
_Cahrocs and Navaho Indians_. The coyote.
_Murri Tribe_ (Gippsland, Australia). Man who became a
bird.
_Thlinkeets_ (N.W. America). Yetl the raven.
_New Zealanders_. Mani.
_Andaman Islanders_. A bird.
CULTURE MYTHS. MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ARTS OF LIFE.
A god or culture-hero teaches man the useful arts. The
outstanding figures in such myths are:
_Egyptians_. Osiris.
_Babylonians_. Oannes.
_Greeks_. Prometheus, Bacchus, Cadmus.
_Celts_ (Irish). Nuada of the Silver Hand.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia). Wieland the Smith.
_Japanese_. Okikurimi.
_Bushmen_ (South Africa). Cagn.
_Zulus_. Unkulunkulu.
_Algonquins_. Michabo or Manibozho.
_Antis Indians_ (Brazil). Son of Ulé.
_Arawaks_. Kamu.
_Carayas_. Kaboi.
_Caribs_. Tamu (grandfather).
_Cherokees_. Wasi.
_Chiapas_. Votan.
_Hurons_. Joskeha.
_Maya_ (Yucatan). Itzamna, Kukulcan.
_Mexicans_. Quetzalcoatl.
_Orinoco Tribes_. Amalivaca.
_Paraguayans_. Zumé.
_Peruvians_. Manco Ccapac; Viracocha arises from the depths
of Lake Titicaca on a civilizing mission.
_Toltecs_. Hueymactzin.
_Australians_. Pund-jel.
_Melanesians_. Qat.
TABOO MYTHS. Myths which relate the existence of, origin
of, and necessity for certain taboos or forbidden things.
_Hebrews_. Adam, Eve, and the eating of the apple.
_Greeks_.
The myth of Cupid and Psyche.
Actæon turned into a stag for observing Artemis when
bathing.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia). Lohengrin and Elsa (name taboo).
_Ningphos_ (Bengal). Think they became mortal by bathing
in tabooed water.
_Australians_. Death introduced by woman going to tabooed
tree.
MYTHS OF DEATH. To account for death, regarded by some
savage races as unnatural. Usually some custom or taboo is
supposed to have been broken, or some ritual neglected or
mismanaged, and death has followed. The reasons given by
the different races are as follows:
_Greeks_. Death comes from lifting cover off Pandora's box.
_Hindus_. Yama is pioneer to the Otherworld.
_Southern India_. Death (snake) bites men while God
sleeps. God makes dog drive away snake; thus dogs howl at
approach of death.
_Ningphos_ (Bengal). Think they became mortal through
bathing in tabooed water.
_Bushmen_. The mother of the little hare is dead. The moon
strikes the hare on its lip, splitting it in two, and
tells it that its mother is really dead and will not live
again as the moon does.
_Hottentots_. The moon sends the hare to men to tell them
that they will live again as he (the moon) does, but the
hare forgets the message and tells men that they will
surely die, for which mistake the moon burns a hole in his
lip.
_Namaquas_. The hare and the moon's mother.
_Central Africans_. Sleep unknown; woman offers to teach
man how to sleep; holds his nostrils; man never wakes;
dying made easy.
_Hurons_. Atænsic (the moon) destroys the living,
_Australians_. Woman goes near a forbidden tree.
_New Zealand_. Mani was not properly baptized.
_Fiji Islanders_. The moon desired that men should die and
live again like herself, but the rat opposed this, and so
men die as rats do.
_Polynesians_. Mani tries to pass through Night, a little
bird sings, night awakes, snaps up Mani, and "so men die."
_Banks Islanders_. Qat, Mate, Panoi, and Tangaro the Fool.
Tangaro the Fool is set to watch the path taken by Death,
that men may avoid it, but makes the mistake of pointing
to men the path to Hades as that of the path of the upper
world. So men have, perforce, to follow this road to Panoi
and the dead.
_Pentecost Islanders_. Tagar makes man die for live days
only and live again, but Suque causes them to die for ever.
_Solomon Islanders_. Koevari resumes cast-off skin.
SOUL MYTHS, (1) In which the idea is found that a person's
life, heart, or soul may be separated from him as a
life-token or life-index, and that so long as this is kept
safe or remains concealed, its owner is immortal. (2)
Other myths dealing with the passage of the soul to the
Otherworld.
_Egyptians_. Story of the two brothers.
_Hebrews_. Samson and Delilah.
_Greeks_.
Meleager and the firebrand.
Misus, King of Megara, and his purple hair.
Souls ferried across the Styx by Charon.
_Romans_. Silvia and the son of Mars.
_Yorkshiremen_. 'Brig o'Dread, nae braider than a thread.'
_Mohammedans_. Reach Paradise across bridge composed of a
single hair.
_Cingalese_. Story of Thossakin, King of Ceylon, who kept
his soul in a box when he went to war with Rama.
_Ainu_ (Japan). The 'inao.'
_Tinneh or Déné Indians_. Etwa-eke and his stone hatchet.
_Malays_. Tree-trunk across boiling lake to 'Island of
Fruits.'
_Eskimos_. Kujanguak and his life-lock (hair).
_Universal_. Belief in birth-trees.
FIRE MYTHS. In which the world is destroyed by fire.
_Romans_. Seneca (see _Natur. Questiones_, iii, cap. 27).
_Hebrews_. Bible belief.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia). The "Völuspá": "The sun shall
grow dark, the land sink in the waters, the bright stars
be quenched, and high flames climb Heaven itself."
_Algonquins_. Michabo will stamp his foot, flames will
devour the earth and only a chosen few (probably one pair)
be left to re-people the new earth.
_Arawaks_ (Guiana and N. Brazil). Aimon Kondi.
_Aztecs_. Extinguished every fire on last night of each
cycle of fifty-two years. Then priests made new fire by
friction. If this failed the end of the world had come.
_Maya_. World to be destroyed by ravening fire and the
gods with it.
_Peruvians_. Amantas taught that some day an eclipse would
veil the sun for ever, and earth, moon, and stars be
wrapped in devouring flame.
_Tupi-Guarani_ (Brazil). Monan, Irin Magé.
FLOOD MYTHS. A great deluge in which Heaven or the earth
or both Heaven and earth are submerged in water and all
living things drowned with the exception of one individual
or family favoured by the god or gods.
_Egyptians_. Tem, Temu, Atem, Atmu.
_Babylonians_. Ut-Napishtim, the Babylonian Noah.
_Hebrews_. Noah.
_Persians_. Yima.
_Greeks_. Deucalion and Pyrrha.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia). Bergelmir and Ymir.
_Hindus_. Manu, son of the sun-god Vivasvat.
_Ahts Indians_ (Vancouver Island). Wispohahp.
_Algonquin Indians_. Michabo or Manibozho.
_Antis Indians_ (Brazil). Yurukares.
_Arawaks_. Sigu, Marerewana.
_Aschochimi Indians_ (California). Coyote.
_Caribs_ (Antilles). The ibis.
_Hare Indians_. Kunyan 'the intelligent,'
_Mexicans_. Atonatiuh (the Water-Sun) descends upon the
earth.
_Muyscas_ (Bogota). Chia or Chin, the moon, floods earth
out of spite.
_Peruvians_. Re-creation after deluge at Tiahuanaco.
_Tupi-Guarani_ (Brazil), Monan, Irin Magé.
MYTHS OF A PLACE OF REWARD (the celestial garden of God).
_Country or Race_ _Place of Reward_
Egyptians Aalu
Persians Alburz
Greeks The Elysian Fields
Romans The Fortunate Isles
Celts The Otherworld beyond or beneath
the sea. Tir-nan-og, Avalon, etc.
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia) Valhalla
_Vedas_ Agni (or Pushan) conducts the souls
to the abodes of bliss
_Buddhists_ Nirvana
_American Indians_ Happy hunting grounds
(generally)
_Aztecs_ Tlalocan 'the east, the terrestrial
Paradise.' Tamoanchan, in the west
_Caribs_ Braves feast in happy islands served
by Arawak slaves
_Tonga Islanders_ Island Paradise of Bolotu
MYTHS OF A PLACE OF PUNISHMENT
_Country or Race_ Name of place of Name of presiding
punishment Deity or Deities
_Egyptians_ Amenti Osiris
_Babylonians_ Sheol or Aralu Allatu or Nergal
_Greeks_ Tartarus, Hades Pluto and Persephone
_Celts_ Annwn
_Teutons_ (Scandinavia) Hel Hel
_Ladaks_ (Tibet border) Bad men become
marmots
_Japanese_ Land of Yomi Eruma-o
_Caribs_ 'Bad' men (i.e.
cowards) become
slaves to Arawaks
in barren land
beyond the mountains
_Gallinomero,_ 'Bad' men become
_Californian Indians_ coyotes
_Guatemalans_ (Kiches) Xibalba Hun-Came and
Vucub-Came
_Mexicans_ Mictlan Mictlantecutli and
Mictecaciuatl
_Peruvians_ Çupay
MYTHS OF JOURNEYS OR ADVENTURES THROUGH THE UNDERWORLD OR
PLACE OF THE DEAD
_Egyptians._ Osiris.
_Babylonians_. Descent of Ishtar through the Underworld.
_Greeks_.
Orpheus and Eurydice.
Persephone and Pluto.
Psyche.
The punishment of the Danaides.
Alcestis is allowed to return from the Underworld.
Bacchus brings his mother Semele from the Underworld
to Olympus.
_Medieval Britain_. The Harrying of Hell.
_Japanese_. Izanagi descends into Hades in search of his
wife Izanami.
_Chinooks_ (N.W. America). Blue Jay in the Supernatural
Country.
_Kiches of Guatemala_. Adventures of Hun-Apu and Xbalanque
in the _Popol Vuh_.
FOOD OF THE DEAD FORMULA. An individual 'dies' or is
kidnapped, proceeds to the Otherworld, and, having
partaken of the food there, is unable to return to earth.
_Babylonians_. Adapa loses his chance of becoming immortal
by refusing the food and drink of life offered him by Anu,
as he feared it was the food of the dead of which he had
been warned by his father Ea.
_Greeks_. Persephone.
_Finns_. In the _Kalevala_.
_Chinooks_ (North American Indians, N.W. coast). Found in
shamanistic practice.
SUN MYTHS. The principal figures in sun myths are the
following:
_Egyptians_. Ra and Horus.
_Accadians_. Amar-utuki or Amar-uduk.
_Babylonians_. Merodach and Shamash.
_Greeks_. Apollo (Helios) and Phaethon.
_Celts_. Lug.
_Hindus_, Agni.
_Aztecs_. Piltzintecutli.
MOON MYTHS. These are closely associated with flood myths.
In many of the Indian myths deluges are said to have been
caused by the moon falling on the earth. She is nearly
always held to be the goddess of water, dampness, dews,
rain, and fogs. Moon and water are both mythical mothers
of the human race.
_Egyptians_. Isis. All maladies were traced to her anger.
_Babylonians_. Sin, the moon-god.
_Greeks_. Selene.
_Romans_. Diana or Luna.
_Algonguins_. Moon, night, death, cold, sleep, and water (same word).
_Aztecs_. Constantly confounded Citatli and Atl (moon and
water). Painted moon two colours--beneficent dispenser of
harvests and offspring, goddess of night, dampness, cold,
ague, miasma, and sleep; the twin of Death. Also known
as Metztli, Yohualticitl, or Teciztecatl.
_Brazilian Indians_. Mothers shield infants from rays which
are said to cause sickness.
_Hidatsa_. Midi is both moon and water.
_Hurons_. Atænsic is the moon (also water).
_Muyscas_. Chia the moon floods earth out of spite,
_Peruvians_. Mama Quilla,
_Bushmen_. Sun cuts moon down by degrees, but leaves a piece
from which a new complete moon grows, and so on.
STAR MYTHS. In both primitive and later myths the stars
are metamorphosed men, women, or beasts; in some cases
ancestors, in others gods. The belief that the good at
death become stars is very widely spread.
_Egyptians_. Plutarch was shown Isis and Osiris in the sky.
_Babylonians_. Many gods are represented by stars. Babylonian
astrology favoured the evolution of gods into planets.
_Greeks_. The Pleiades are young girls.
Castor and Pollux are young men.
_Hindus_. Prajapati and his daughter become constellations.
_Bushmen_. Metamorphosed men.
_American_ (Chinook Indians, N.W. Coast). Aqas Xenas Xena.
_Indians_ (North American). Ursa Major is a bear.
_Mexicans_. Quetzalcoatl becomes a planet--our Venus.
_Peruvians_. Beasts, anthropomorphic gods, and stars are
confounded together.
_Eskimos_. Regard stars as ancestors.
**_Australians_. The Pleiades are young girls.**
South American star myths have not been added to this list
as full reference has been made to them in the text.
MYTHS TO ACCOUNT FOR CUSTOMS OR RITES (ætiological myths),
such as the general belief that water is the mother of all
things. This accounts for sacred fountains, lakes, and
rivers, baptism, etc. A few examples only can be given.
_Greeks_. Myth of Dionysus and Pentheus, to explain
festival of the former. See Euripides, _The Bacchæ_.
_A-Kikuyus_ (Bantu tribe, E. Africa). To explain sacrifices
to Ngai (rain-god).
_Todas_ (Southern India). To explain why the sacred
dairyman sacrifices calf to Notirzi.
_Blackfeet Indians_. To explain sun-dance.
_Pawnee Indians_. To explain skull-dance, buffalo-dance,
bear-dance (dramatized myths).
_Wiradthuri tribes_ (Australia). Dhuramoolun and the
bull-roarer.
_Almost universal_. Belief in ghosts accounts for funeral
rites to prevent ghosts' return.