CHAPTER VIII.

THE FAIRY-LORE OF SAVAGES.

Primitive philosophy of nature—Astro-mythology of Australian tribes, of the Tasmanians, the Bushmen, the Esquimaux, Hervey Islanders, Thlinkeet Indians—Such myths invented to account for natural phenomena—Not always the result of forgotten etymologies—The Aht story of the origin of the moon—American story of the robin—Hervey Islanders’ story of the sole—Stories also invented to account for curious customs or beliefs—Reason given by the Irish for their annual persecution of the wren—The story of the wren and the eagle, very similar in Ireland and North America—Facility of the dispersion of stories often accounts for their resemblance—Wide range of the story of Faithful John—Polynesian stories of Maui stopping the sun’s motion—the same idea in Wallachia and North America—Many similar stories arose independently of each other, as the versions of the idea contained in Jack and the Beanstalk—Some Aryan myths, explained as fancies about the clouds, found also in the New World—Hindu myth of Urvasi compared with myths from Borneo and America—Story-roots to be looked for on earth, not in the clouds—Celestial and terrestrial phenomena confused—The influence of dreams in the production of myths—The influence of flattery—Tendency of chiefs and sorcerers to become gods and heroes after death—Zeus compared with the culture-heroes of savage mythology—The Hottentot Utixo, Mannan MacLear, Manabozho, Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, Heitsi Eibip, all probably of human origin—Nicknames a factor in mythology—Tendency to personify abstractions—Vivid imagination of savages 239-275