32 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 16. 
unity in the characterization of the heroes and their activities, 
and by skilful motivation, that one hardly realizes the mosaic 
nature of the whole. We are here clearly in the presence of an 
epic. I secured practically all the separate myths found in the 
epic separately, and a comparison of these separate versions 
with the versions in the epic showed most illuminatingly the 
manner in which the author of the epic had subordinated the 
separate elements of his tale to the unity of the plot. 
The same evidence of literary remodelling is to be seen in 
the majority of origin myths of rituals. Here even the loose 
Trickster cycle has become unified and coherent. Compare in 
this respect the figure of the hare in the Winnebago Hare cycle 
in general with the same figure in the origin myth of the Medicine- 
Lodge, or that of the Fox Wi*sa'ka a in the Trickster cycle with 
the same figure in the origin myth of the Midewiwin. 
It will, I hope, be understood that the unity predicated of 
these versions is not perfect. As a matter of fact, if we look 
at these myths in great detail and analyse them in the way we 
are accustomed to analyse our own literary productions, a con- 
siderable amount of the unity disappears. The motivation is 
not always skilful, sometimes indeed there is no motivation at 
all, and on the other hand certain episodes, motifs, themes, and 
characterizations seem at variance with the general character of 
the plot or the hero. Occasionally one finds a myth perfect from 
the literary point of view, that is, our literary point of view . 1 
As such, for instance, I regard the Winnebago myth of “The 
Traveller.” Very few perfect ones, however, were obtained. 
In the main we find quite a large number of defects of detail 
interfering with the unity of the plot. It is, however, just these 
defects that are of the greatest significance in a discussion of 
Indian mythology, as we will now try to show. 
Many of the myths obtained in North America are, as we 
have seen, found in two distinct types of versions, one in which 
they have not, to any appreciable extent, been subjected to 
1 The Indian's point of view differs, of course, markedly from our own in a number of re- 
spects. These will be discussed in the section on "The novelette as remodelled by the author- 
raconteur.” It should, however, be borne in mind that in many essential respects the art 
of story-telling is alike among all mankind. 
