195 
at one time in direct or indirect contact or sprang perhaps from the 
same stock. 
In spite of the example just quoted, the comparative study of 
folk-tales has hitherto yielded little result. This is partly due no 
doubt to the disruption of the tribes by European colonization and 
the fur trade, which brought the Iroquois across the Rocky mountains 
and the Cree to the delta of the Mackenzie river. The extensive dis- 
semination of folk-tales produced by these historic movements now 
conceals their true diffusion in pre-European times. It is safer to rely 
on culture elements less easily transmitted, such as resemblances in 
social organization or material possessions, and to use the folk-lore as 
subordinate evidence. 
As commonly recorded by ethnologists, Indian folk-lore seems 
dull and dreary to the average European. It is derived in most cases 
through a native not thoroughly conversant with English and unable 
with his limited vocabulary to translate or explain the full implica- 
tions of the words or episodes. An ethnologist rarely speaks any 
Indian language fluently, and the more literary he makes his texts 
the more likely he is to misinterpret the originals. Yet the fault lies 
less with the ethnologist than with the stories themselves. Our 
psychological background does not permit us to adopt the attitude 
of the Indian and to look for supernatural interferences in the most 
pedestrian events. It offends our reason and destroys our interest 
to find this obtruding on every page, especially when it takes a form 
not familiar in European mythology. Moreover, most of us have 
outgrown the stage of enjoying mere anecdotes and prefer literature 
of a less superficial character. Doubtless certain animal tales are 
suitable for children, and some of the traditions provide excellent 
material for a writer of romances who can select what he pleases and 
build up the remainder according to liis fancy. But the vast bulk of 
the folk-lore carries no popular appeal and is of interest to the pro- 
fessional ethnologist alone. 
Nevertheless, a few tales, a very few, stand out like flowers from 
a tangle of bushes and deserve the brush of a great artist. Such is 
the Tsimsliian story given below, which in spite of its exoticism and 
impossibilities ap])eals to our hearts on account of its warm human- 
ity: ' 
1 Unpublished MS. belonging to the author. 
