[ROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



9 



same general myths and legends are found. This by no means 

 necessarily implies contact. Rather does it illustrate the fact that 

 illimitable as imagination seems to be in its power to combine and 

 create, in reality it is limited by certain suggesting factors which 

 may be common to all people of a given cultural stage and to all 

 times. We have dwelt upon this feature at some length in a note 

 on the Celestial Bear myth. It is not to be supposed, however, 

 that some myths have not been derived by contact directly or 

 indirectly in times more or less historic. On the other hand it 

 seems quite feasible to believe that certain myths have been 

 transmitted from one stock to another, the elements to be pre- 

 served and the details to be recast in local molds. Some myths 

 are plainly derived from external sources and are easily traced 

 to their originating sources. Others are more difficult to trace. 



Certain individuals among tribes in the lower culture stages be- 

 come the story-tellers of their people and are the tribal libraries 

 of this oral fiction. Legends differ from myths in that they are 

 wonder stories told for the amusement of those who hear them 

 and are recognized as ingenious creations of imagination. There 

 is, however, a class of legends that relate to localities and which 

 explain some local phenomenon, but these are traditions rather 

 than legends. Traditions differ from legends in that they pretend 

 to be and often are the relations of actual occurrences. They are 

 the histories of the peasantry and the tribes that have no system 

 of writing. 



Iroquois folklore 



The North American Indians possessed a vast oral literature of 

 mythology, legendary lore and tradition. The field of American 

 folklore has scarcely been touched by anthropologists, and even 

 tribes that have been known the longest have received compara- 

 tively little attention. True, much has been recorded, but this 

 much is but a small portion of the total. That this should be 

 the case is not due to the lack of energy on the part of students 

 but to the inaccessibility of the greater part of the material. 



Much is known of the material culture of the Iroquois and much 

 also of their governmental system and their social laws. That 

 not all is known is conceded, but enough to place them conspicu- 

 ously before historians and ethnographers as the Indians of Indians, 

 as the most splendid of barbaric men. It will be found of interest, 

 therefore, to bring before students for correlation the small portion 

 of their literature contained in this volume. 



