CHAPTER XVII 



MYTHS, LEGENDS, AND STORIES 



Among all the peoples of Borneo a number of 

 myths are handed on from generation to generation 

 by word of mouth. These are related again and 

 again by those who make themselves reputations 

 as story-tellers, especially the old men and women ; 

 and the people are never tired of hearing them 

 repeated, as they sit in groups about their hearths 

 between supper and bed-time, and especially when 

 camping in the jungle. The myths vary consider- 

 ably in the mouths of different story-tellers, especially 

 of those that live in widely separated districts ; for 

 the myths commonly have a certain amount of local 

 colouring. Few or none of the myths are common 

 to all the peoples ; but those of any one people are 

 generally known in more or less authentic form to 

 their neighbours. 



Although many of the myths deal with such 

 subjects as the creation of the world, of man, of 

 animals and plants, the discovery of fire and agri- 

 culture, subjects of which the mythology has been 

 incorporated in the religious teachings of the 

 classical and Christian worlds, the mythology of 

 these peoples has little relation to their religion. 

 The gods figure but little in the myths, and the 

 myths are related with little or no religious feeling, 

 no sense of awe, and very little sense of obligation 

 to hand them on unchanged. They are related in 



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