LITERARY ASPECTS OF NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY. 
37 
and birth of the hero and his brother or brothers, the brother’s 
death, the deluge, and the re-creation of the world. As a whole, 
the cycle as told shows two contrasting forms, an Eastern and a 
Western. Considering the latter of these, it is evident, that so 
far as the first part is concerned, there is considerable variation. 
The Ojibwa, Menominee, Pottawatomi and Ottawa have in 
common two incidents of the virgin or abnormal birth and the 
death of the mother. These features are lacking in the Fox, 
while there are no tales relative to the origin of the culture-hero 
given from the Cree and Saulteaux. While the Ojibwa, Menomi- 
nee and Ottawa agree in there being but two brothers, Fox and 
Pottawatomi both speak of four. Menominee and Ottawa agree 
in associating the younger brother with the wolf, whereas the 
former stands alone in having one of the brothers die at birth, 
to be later resuscitated as a companion for the other. The 
most noteworthy difference, however, in this first portion of the 
cycle, lies in the appearance among the Pottawatomi and Ottawa 
of the Flintman as one of the brothers: of his opposition and 
enmity to the culture-hero; and final destruction by the latter, 
as a result of what may be called the “deceitful confidence.” 
These various elements are typically Iroquoian, and are found 
most fully developed, apparently among the Wyandot-Huron, 
“The second part of the cycle also shows variety. Among 
the Menominee and Pottawatomi, the Ojibwa and the Ottawa, 
the culture-hero’s brother is killed by evil water-frequenting 
manitous, when the brother, neglecting his elder brother’s warn- 
ing, crosses a lake on the ice. The Menominee and Pottawatomi 
agree in the return of the brother in the form of a ghost, and in 
his departure westward to be the guardian of the land of the dead. 
These elements do not appear in the Ojibwa or Ottawa, however. 
A somewhat similar combination appears in the Fox, where the 
incident of the lake does not occur, the manitous killing the cul- 
ture-hero’s brother, after decoying him away to a distance. 
The incident of the ghost’s return is, however, present. The 
affiliation of the Cree-Saulteaux in this portion of the cycle 
is again unknown, for lack of data. 
“For the third part there is fuller material, as, although 
the incidents are not available from the Pottawatomi, both 
