1894-95.] TniiKE carriee myths. 17 



by their mother's head be considered as a vague reminiscence of the con- 

 tinual journeying of the Hebrews led by the two brothers, Moses and 

 Aaron, away from the land of Egypt which had nursed them for four 

 centuries ? There would be nothing very extraordinary in one point of 

 a native myth recalling two facts of analogous nature. The issue of the 

 feud between pursuer and pursued, at least, seems in both cases strikingly 

 similar. After having pursued by land the fugitive Israelites, Pharaoh, 

 reaching the shores of the opened Red Sea, makes bold to follow therein 

 the tracks of his former slaves. But Moses stretches forth his hand over 

 the sea and his pursuer comes to grief together with his army, all being 

 drowned by the return of the waters. In like manner, the Den^ Moses 

 long followed by the head of his mother, finally comes upon a large lake 

 which he crosses in a miraculous way. As his tormentor is still after 

 him, even in the middle of the lake, he stretches forth his wonder- 

 working dagger, whereupon his enemy is instantly drowned, or devoured 

 by a monster fish, which is practically the same. 



The Carrier hero's adventure on top of the mountain and his meeting 

 with the thunder's children, followed by their father's anger, have counter- 

 parts in the mythology of no less than three different native tribes east 

 of the Rockies. It would be too long to reproduce each of them. This 

 part of the myth being so widely-spread must have some importance. 

 Might it not be a vague reminiscence of the giving of the tables of the 

 law to Moses amidst the peals of thunder on the Mount of Sinai and of 

 the casting away of the same at the sight of the prevarication of Israel? 

 The anger of the Carrier hero who throws the bundle of feathers in the 

 fires, the ashes of which finally cover up the old man who has treacher- 

 ously left him for dead on the mountain, might then recall to mind the 

 irritation of Moses caused by the unfaithful Israelites who had aban- 

 doned him and were despairing of his ever coming back to them, and who, 

 on his return, were compelled to swallow the very ashes of the golden 

 calf. This, however, might be too far-fetched, and is given simply as a 

 hint to lovers of identifications. 



Another part of the myth which I feel much bolder in assimilating to 

 the Biblical narrative, is the end of the Carrier text. This, I think, 

 everybody will agree, unmistakably points to the destruction of mankind 

 by the deluge. In Moses' account of the cataclysm, mankind is punished 

 for its sins by a flood, the waters of which cover the highest mountains 

 and from which only Noah and his family escape, being floated on the 

 waters by the ark. In the D^n^ narrative, the waters similarly reach 

 above the highest peaks, and the deluge immediately follows the wrongs 

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