34 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 16. 
for instance, between Greek mythology and the subject-matter 
of the Greek plays. Just as among the latter, however, so among 
the Indians, incidents, episodes, etc., have in the hands of skilful 
author-raconteurs become entirely subordinated to a general 
theme. The Wrath of Achilles finds its counterpart in the Twins’ 
Search for their Blankets, in the Enmity of the Water-spirit 
and the Thunderbird, and in the Hare’s Succour of the Human 
Race. 
It is perhaps along these lines — the lack of complete liter- 
ary remodelling — that the figure of the trickster can best be 
explained. Assuming the original existence of a series of clown- 
ish adventures grouped around an indefinite personage, all that 
is needed for an understanding of the trickster’s r61e in North 
America, with its apparent contradictions of buffoon and bene- 
factor, is to imagine a partial literary remodelling of the older 
myth. It is quite clear from myth collections made among the 
Winnebago, Sauk and Fox, Ojibw'a,and others that Wak'djuk'a-'ga, 
Wi'sa'kS.®, and Nenebojo have, in the main, become different 
personages in the ritualistic myths. They have become con- 
scious benefactors. But as this character has merely been added 
to the older conception without any systematic attempt having 
been made always to harmonize the older with the newer con- 
ception, a peculiar incongruity has resulted which has sorely 
puzzled mythologists. The interpretation I have ventured to 
give here explains, it seems to me, the nature and significance of 
this incongruity in conception in a simple and adequate manner 
and does not leave as many inexplicable features as the interpre- 
tations of Brinton and Boas. 
Although I have rather insisted upon the association of the 
trickster with a ritual as the reason for the development of his 
r61e as benefactor, such a rdle may have developed in a number of 
other ways. The possibility for such a growth is given in the 
fact that the trickster is one of the very oldest figures in the myth- 
ology of the human race and must have, in almost all cases, 
become identified with the race of heroes and creators. 
In speaking before of the myth as static, as a cultural ele- 
ment toward which the individual assumed a passive attitude, we 
did not have in mind so much the myth as the myth elements. 
