162 BULLETIN 139^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM 



to the Bokairi tale, concealed the fire which was struck out by Keri. 

 The Tupi myth is based on the conception common in North Amer- 

 ica that animals marked by black have been burned by fire, and such 

 animals bring fire, or at least are its original possessors from which 

 the culture heroes get it. As in North America and Mexico, the 

 deer brings the fire and at the same time burns away his tail. So 

 among the Tupi the sloth gets the black spot on his back, indicating 

 the place from which the twins took the fire. Among the Kaingang 

 the fire was abducted by some higher being, and in a manner recalling 

 the conceptions of the northwestern American Indians. A hero trans- 

 forms himself into a magpie, which gets possession of a glowing coal 

 at the fireplace of the sun.^* 



The Mataco, Chanes, Chiriguanos, and Tapiete of the Gran Chaco 

 include in their fire-origin myths the episode of fire theft, and the 

 two former include an episode of great fire.^^ 



In view of the large body of literature on European myths and 

 folklore, the work of students of the subject gathering for centuries, 

 it is not necessary to present a treatment here. The scientific study 

 of mythology had its birth in Europe, and all investigators are in- 

 debted to the men who founded the science. 



It is true, as, notably among other writers, Andrew Lang points 

 out, that classical myths descend with very little dislocation from 

 crude early ideas. We have in Prometheus the extension of the early 

 almost universal episode of the theft of fire and punishment for the 

 immorality of taking fire by stealth from the fireplace of the family 

 of the gods. 



Investigations of classic mythology represent work in the upper 

 layer of European folklore. Other numerous strata are hardly dis- 

 tinguishable. On the decay of classicism and in the rebuilding of 

 European culture the mythology of a number of nations which had 

 been submerged came into prominence. This body of myth and 

 folklore not only is well recorded and studied, but furnishes the liter- 

 ary background which has made European literature preeminent. 



The fire myths of Oceania present striking examples of the mytho- 

 poetic faculty of many of the island races, particularly those of the 

 Polynesians. Dr. Roland B. Dixon considers these myths in many 

 respects unique and of Oceanic development.®" He divides the myths 

 into evolutionary or genealogical and creative acts of deities. A good 

 example from the Maori of New Zealand is appended. 



The Maori say that fire was derived from the five children born of 

 the Dawn Maid and Mahiuka and named for the five fingers of the 



M Dr. Paul Ehrenreich. Die Mythen und Legenden der Sudamerikanischen Urvolken, Berlin, 1905^ 

 pp. 17 and 57. 

 M Erland Nordenskijold. Indianlif i El Gran Chaco. Stockholm, 1910. 

 " Roland. B. Dixon. Oceanic Mythology. Mythology of All Peoples, vol. 9, Boston, 1916, p. 307. 



