PART II.

MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK-LORE.

INTRODUCTORY 101–103

THE SACRED NAMES IN QUICHE MYTHOLOGY 104–129

The Quiches of Guatemala, and their relationship; sources of information. Their Sacred Book, the _Popol Vuh_; its opening words; The name Hun-Ahpu-Vuch, the God of Light; Hun-Ahpu-Utiu; Nim-ak, the Great Hog; Nim-tzyiz; Tepeu; Gucumatz; Qux-cho and Qux-palo; Ah-raxa-lak and Ah-raxa-sel; Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the primal pair; Cakulha; Huracan and Cabrakan; Chirakan, the god of the Storm and the Earthquake; Xbalanque and his journey to Xibalba, or the Descent into Hell.

THE HERO-GOD OF THE ALGONKINS AS A CHEAT AND LIAR 130–134

Micmac story of Gluskap, the Liar; the Cree god, the Deceiver; Michabo and his tricks; psychological significance of such stories.

THE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL 135–147

General belief in a soul; Egyptian theory of its fate; it sinks and rises with the sun; invocation to Osiris; symbols of the river, the boat, the dog, and the sacred numbers; recurrence of these symbols in Greek, Vedantic and Norse beliefs; the Aztec account of the soul’s journey to Paradise. Origin of these symbolic narratives from the apparent daily course of the Sun.

THE SACRED SYMBOLS IN AMERICA 148–162

The four symbols of the Ta Ki, the Triskeles, the Svastika and the Cross; the prevalence of the Triskeles in the Old World; the meaning of the Ta Ki in Chinese philosophy; the Yin and Yang; the Svastika; origin illustrated from n picture-writing; the Copan stone; the earth-plain; the wheel-cross; winter-counts and year cycles; time-wheels and sun-motions; the Four Ages and Tree of Life.

THE FOLK-LORE OF YUCATAN 163–180

Mental activity of the Mayas; the diviners; the “field mass”; invocation to the rain-gods; fire-worship; prognostics; transformations of sorcerers; nagualism; a Maya witch story; the Balams; the Man of the Woods; stories of dwarfs and imps; female deceivers; fabulous birds and snakes.

FOLK-LORE OF THE MODERN LENAPE 181–192

Source of information; reminiscences of the tribe; Messianic hopes; relics of the Stone Age; methods of hunting and fishing; utensils, boats and houses; the native games; the sweat-lodge; their canticos, and the derivation of the term; medical knowledge; cure for rattlesnake bites; native trephining; position of the Lenâpé as “grandfathers”; wampum belts; totemic divisions; peculiarities of the dialect; Lenâpé grammar.