52 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [eth. ann. 32 



spoken literature of the American Indians, took the necessary trouble 

 to learn the motif of the narratives of mythic and legendary origin 

 of these people; hence they did not feel it incumbent upon them te 

 apologize for the moral tone of the legends and myths they recorded 

 and published, for their own mental attitude toward the wholesome, 

 the worthy, and the noble was such as to enable them to discover and 

 to appreciate the same qualities in the thinking of the people they 

 studied. To expound like the priest, to speak like the prophet, and 

 to think like the myth-maker, were among the gifts of these men 

 which enabled them to understand the motives underlying the myths 

 and legends of the tribal men of the world, while they were at the 

 same time fully alive to the scientific use and value of these same 

 poetic narratives when analyzed and interpreted sympathetically. 



Mr. Curtin obtained his Seneca material from the following per- 

 sons of the Seneca tribe, many of whom have since died: Abraham 

 Johnny-John, Solomon O'Bail, George Titus, John Armstrong, 

 Zachariah Jimeson, Andrew Fox, Henry Jacob, Henry Silverheels, 

 Peter AVhite, Black Chief, and Phoebe Logan. He recorded an 

 extensive vocabulary of the Seneca, with which he had become 

 familiar by intensive study of its structure. 



Mr. Curtin, with the mind of a master, fully grasped the impor- 

 tance and the i^aramount significance of the intelligent collection, 

 and the deeper sympathetic study, of legends and myths in general, 

 and of those of the American Indians in particular, in the final estab- 

 lishment of the science of mythology. 



To the editor it is one of the delightful memories of his early offi- 

 cial life to recall the many instructive hours spent with Mr. Curtin 

 in discussing the larger significance and the deeper implications 

 which are found in the intelligent study and interpretation of legends, 

 epics, and myths — the highest type of poetic and creative composi- 

 tion. And for this reason he has so freely cited from the writings 

 of Mr. Curtin the meaning and the value which such a study and 

 analysis had for Mr. Curtin and has for those who like him will 

 fully appreciate that " the Indian tales reveal to us a whole system 

 of religion, philosophy, and social polity. . . . the whole mental 

 and social life of the race to which they belong is evident in them." 



The following quotations give all too briefly, perhaps, his philo- 

 sophic views on these questions in his own deft, inimitable way. It is 

 believed that these citations will enable the reader and the student to 

 gain some clear idea of the pregnant lessons Mr. Curtin drew from 

 the analysis and interpretation of the legends and myths which he 

 recorded, as well as of his method of studying and expounding them. 

 The Seneca collection herewith presented forms only a small portion 

 of his recorded mythic material. 



A few tens of years ago it was all-important to understand and explain the 

 brotherhood and blood-bond of Aryan nations, and their relation to the Semitic. 



