IROQUOIS MYTHS AND LEGENDS 



59 



The listening bear slowly opened its sleepy eyes, and rising in 

 its giant hight, lifted the net with its huge paws and, dragging the 

 hunters under it, drove them far away to roam the broad skies 

 forever! And the hunters and their faithful dog, Ji-yeh, unknow- 

 ing their imprisonment under the invisible net, are ceaselessly 

 following the snow bear, who ever eludes them. 1 



In Ursa Major, 2 the Iroquois find these three hunters, one with 

 the brush upon his back, and close following they trace the faithful 

 dog, Ji-yeh. 



1 The stars outlining the bowl of the " dipper " represent the bear and the handle stars 

 are the hunters. 



2 The myth of the celestial bear chase is one of the most widely distributed in America. 

 That the Ursa Major of the white man's astronomical lore should be the same thing in the 

 Indian's seems remarkable at first, and yet, when the elements which suggested the com- 

 ponent ideas of the myth are examined it will be found that to human minds in the same 

 cultural stage, though separated by space and time, the same factors suggest the same 

 ideas or combination of ideas. That the idea of things should be similar, therefore, does 

 not seem so strange. 



The story of the bear constellation as related by the Indians is Precolumbian without 

 a shadow of doubt. The earliest explorers and missionaries heard the myth from the Point 

 Barrow Eskimos and from the Zuni Pueblo dwellers of Arizona, from the Sioux of the 

 Dakotas, from the Micmacs of Nova Scotia, and from the Siwash tribes of California. Still 

 it may be objected that the myth was of recent introduction, but if it were, its details would 

 not have presented so much of a variation but rather have conformed to the myth supposed 

 to have been derived from European sources. 



The suggesting factors which gave origin to the idea of the bear as associated with the 

 constellation deserve some consideration here. The North American Indians, in common 

 with other primitive people, were deeply impressed with all the phenomena of nature and 

 curious regarding their cause. Any similarity between the known and the unknown was 

 noted and where several real or symbolical similarities were observed, the unknown was 

 compared to, symbolized by and named from the known. Real or pretended similarities 

 were adduced both from actual knowledge and experience and from preexisting myths. 

 The primitive mind drew no dividing line between the real and unreal, between ideas derived 

 from objective and subjective sources. One supplemented the other in his store of data. 

 Each element formed material for his premises and he regarded his conclusions sound. 

 A myth once evolved was the precedent upon which other and more elaborate myths of 

 other things might be built. If we knew what the primordial myth of any people was we 

 might be able to trace step by step the history and evolution of myths. But then we should 

 also be compelled to ask what ideas suggested that myth and at length we should be reduced 

 to an analytical study of the evolution of ideas. We can not do this in a footnote and, 

 therefore, we can not clear every question which may arise regarding a myth. 



The bear constellation is one of the most prominent in the heavens and must have early 

 attracted the attention of leaders who probably thought somewhat as follows: 



The four stars (which compose the "dipper" bowl) suggest the four tracks or feat of an 

 animal. What animal ?.. . The den (Corona borealis) suggests a cave in the rocks. What 

 mysterious animal is it that never dies (disappears) , and though it may turn on its back 

 (become inverted like the constellation in late autumn and winter) to sleep, yet returns 

 living again? And who are the stars, the seven stars that follow the beast, four to become 

 lost and three ever in sight? Surely sam; migical anim il this is, it mast be a bear (re- 

 garded by the Indians as a most wise and mysteriously magical animil). Its den is like 

 a bear's den. It never dies, no, a bear never does (from natural causes, the Indian 

 thinks). Yes, it is a bear. The seven stars are the pursuers, the three always visible are 



