MM l\M \\- 01 l ill. PLAINS 



fcural contacts <»t the several tribes. A typical study 



of this kind by Dr. R. II. Louie will be found in the 

 Journal of American Folk-Lore, September, L908, 



where, for example, the star-born hero is traced through 



the ('row. Pawnee, Dakota. Arapaho, Kiowa. Gros 

 Ventre, and Blackfoot, Indian mythologies often 

 contain Large groups of tales each reciting the adven- 

 tures of a distinguished mythical hero. In the Plains, 



as elsewhere, we find among these a peculiar character 

 with supernatural attributes, who transforms and in 

 some instances creates the world, who rights great 

 wrongs, and corrects great evils, yet who often stoops 

 to trivial and vulgar pranks. Among the Blackfoot, 

 for instance, he appears under the name of Xapiw '. 

 white old man, or old man of the dawn. He i- dis- 

 tinctly human in form and name. The Gros Ventre, 

 Cheyenne, Arapaho, Hidatsa, and Mandan seem to 

 have a similar character in their mythology. 



The uniqueness of the 'White-old-man 7 appear- 

 when we consider the mythologies of the adjoining cul- 

 ture areas. Thus between the Plains and the Pacific 

 Ocean similar tales appear, but are there attributed t<> 

 an animal character with the name and attributes of a 

 coyote. Under this name he appears among the Crow. 

 Nez Perce, and Shoshoni, on the western fringe of the 

 Plains, but rarely among the Pawnee, Ankara, and 

 Dakota and practically never among the tribes desig- 

 nating him as human. Again among the Assiniboin, 

 Dakota, and Omaha, this hero is given a spider-like 

 character fUnktomi). It is thus clear that while the 



