158 BULLETIN 139^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the joy of successful theft, the exhibition of endurance, cunning, and 

 resource, observed on several cycles, as Jack the clever thief, and 

 others. 



Next we have fire made artificially from wood or other substances 

 in which it was implanted. This represents the long period during 

 which early man perfected the invention of the fire drill and strike-a- 

 light of flint and pyrites. No philosophy is offered here, but there 

 arise supernatural beings or culture heroes swathed in mystery who 

 sometimes contribute direct the fire drill or strike-a-light, according 

 to local usage. 



Outhnes of examples of myths of the various classes may be 

 given. These are specimens selected from perhaps a hundred exam- 

 ples occurring in North American tribes. 



I. PRESERVATIONAL MTTH3 



This myth is found in great purity among the Tillamooks. With 

 it is found the customary episode of loss of fire and fire stealing. 



a. Older type of myth based on preservation of fire and loss by 

 theft. 



h. Newer type of myth based on preservation, loss through care- 

 lessness or neglect, recovery by invention of fire drill. 



Fire origin, Menomini, Wisconsin. 



" The Thunderers were also the makers of fire, having first received 

 it from Manabush, who had stolen it from an old man dwelling on 

 an island in the middle of a great lake." 



"After this union the Bear built a long wigwam, extending north 

 and south and a fire was kindled by the Thunderers in the middle. 

 From this all the families receive fire, which is carried to them by one 

 of the Thunderers, and when the people travel the Thunderers go on 

 ahead to a camping place and start the fire to be used by all." *^ 



2. KAPTORICAL MYTHS 



The dramatis personae are animals or culture heroes, or these in 

 combination, many always being the beneficiaries. This myth often 

 includes preservation of fire, location of fire, and processes of securing 

 it. Several South American examples of this type have been collected 

 by Erland Nordenskijold and recorded in his work on Indian Hfe, 

 The theft episode is almost universal. 



Dr. C. Hart Merrian says that the Mewan tribes of central Cali- 

 fornia believed in "the existence at a great distance of a primordial 

 heat and light giving substance indifferently called fire, sun, or 

 morning, for in the early myths these were considered identical, or 

 at least interconvertible. 



The presence of a keeper or guardian of the fire, it being foreseen 

 by its first possessors that because of its priceless value efforts would 



«W. J. Hoffman. The Menominilndians, 14th (pt.l) Ann. Rept.,Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1892, pp.0, 41. 



