16 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 16. 
they create it ? Our ancestor, on a certain day, took a piece of 
clay to form something like a stone. That was the first day 
. . . “'But,’ said the rooster, ‘there are many things to be 
seen in this world that our ancestors must have formed, for in- 
stance the water, that the plants might grow * ” 
This third method is found only in Mexico, as far as I know, 
and it may represent a peculiar historical development. I do 
not believe, however, that it is connected with European influence. 
Whether any of these types of plot elaboration are distinctive 
of certain areas, only future research can definitely determine. 
It is, however, quite likely, to judge from the complete absence 
of the second type of plot elaboration in all trickster myths, that 
certain myths are traditionally elaborated according to one type 
and others according to another. The type of plot elaboration 
may also be utilized in determining more precisely the source 
for certain versions of a myth. For instance, where, as in the 
case of the Omaha Haxige and the Winnebago Holy One, not 
only details but likewise plot elaboration are identical, there 
is a strong presumption that the versions belong together. 
Finally, though it be significant neither of an area nor a tribe, 
plot elaboration may at times be a characteristic of individual 
raconteurs and thus acquire considerable importance in the study 
of myth variants. 
The three types of plot elaboration are, however, of impor- 
tance not merely because they represent different ways of un- 
folding a plot, but because they indirectly regulate the relation 
of the component elements of the plot to one another. In the 
first type, where the plot is unfolded by the actions of the dra- 
matis personae, the interest centres naturally on the separate 
actions as such, whereas in the second and third type, the interest 
lies in the descriptions of the actions. The various episodes 
and motifs are in the latter type described in groups and 
when subsequently the actions are performed they have a 
tendency to be slurred over. At the same time the various 
incidents are described with a precision and detail in type I 
not to be found in type II, because the interest culminates at 
the end of each incident. This is not true for type II, where the 
literary purpose seems to be to incite interest up to a certain 
