874 TS1MSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. inn. 31 



In other cases the geographical differentiation is not quite so evi- 

 dent, because different types of stories overlap. This is the case in 

 the story of the deserted prince (p. 783). On the whole, the tales 

 in which the youth gives offense by being lazy or by wasting food 

 belong to the north. The other type, in which a girl is deserted 

 because she has married a dog, belongs to the south; but the two 

 types overlap in distribution. This particular theme occurs in a 

 much wider area on the American Continent, and other types may 

 easily be recognized in the stories of the Plains Indians. 



In the tales of marriages with supernatural beings or animals, the 

 theme of the offended animal seems to belong primarily to the 

 Tlingit, while the theme of the helpful animals is much more frequent 

 among the Tsimshian. 



All these examples illustrate that there are a number of very simple 

 plots, which have a wide distribution, and which are elaborated by a 

 number of incidents that are literary devices peculiar to each area. 

 In all these cases the incidents obtain their peculiar significance by 

 being worked into different plots. 



On the other hand, we find also certain incidents that have a very 

 wide distribution and occur in a variety of plots. Many examples of 

 these are given in the comparative notes accompanying our stories 

 and in the annotations to all the more important recent collections 

 of folk-tales. The local character of folk-tales is largely determined 

 by typical associations between incidents and definite plots. 



In most of the cases here discussed the plot has a general human 

 character, so that the processes of invention and diffusion of plots 

 must be looked at from a point of view entirely different from that 

 to be applied in the study of invention and diffusion of incidents. 

 The latter are, on the whole, fantastic modifications of every-day 

 experiences, and not likely to develop independently with a fre- 

 quency sufficient to explain their numerous occurrences over a large 

 area. On the other hand, the stories of a deserted child, of contests 

 between two villages, of a rejected lover, are so closely related to 

 every-day experiences, and conform to them so strictly, that the con- 

 ditions for the rise of such a framework of literary composition are 

 readily given. Nevertheless the. plots that are characteristic of 

 various areas should be studied from the point of view of their literary 

 characteristics and of the relation to the actual life of the people. 

 A study of a larger area than the one here attempted will be neces- 

 sary for a fruitful investigation of this problem. 



Without such a comparison, it is not quite easy to give a satisfac- 

 tory description of the characteristic traits of the formulas on which 

 some of the longer Tsimshian stories are based. An attempt of this 

 kind has" been made by Swanton, 1 who enumerates a number of for- 



