INTRODUCTION. 6 
the Skidi. This is possibly due to contact with the Mandan, and per- 
haps, though to a less extent, with the Minitaree. To what extent the 
Mandan have influenced the Arikara can not be known, as no extended 
account of their mythology is available. 
Inasmuch as investigation is now being carried on among addi- 
tional ‘tribes of the Caddoan stock, the usual references to the mytholo- 
gies of other tribes have been omitted in the present volume. At the 
completion of this investigation the tales of all the tribes of the stock 
will be considered from a comparative point of view, while other re- 
semblances to the traditions of other tribes will, at the same time, be 
pointed out. It seems sufficient at present merely to indicate in a gen- 
eral way the character of the tales here presented. 
In the first and second tales, each of which tells of the creation ‘of 
the earth by the Wolf and Lucky-Man, as well as in the creation of 
people by the Spiders, through the assistance of the Wolf, we have a 
story of origin not known to any of the other bands of Caddoan stock, 
and it is possible that this account is due to foreign influence. The story 
of the appearance of people upon earth, or of the emergence, is pre- 
sented in a number of variant forms (Nos. 3 to 13). All these myths 
are of undoubted Arikara origin, and apparently are uninfluenced by 
the mythology of any other tribe. The difference of these tales from 
all similar tales among the Skidi is very interesting, and shows that 
the Arikara possessed a well-defined mythology of their own before 
their separation from the Skidi. The next two tales (Nos. 9, 10) bear 
additional testimony to the importance of the cultivation of corn among 
the Arikara, while in tales II, 12, and 13 is related, in varying versions, 
the escape of the Arikara from the buffalo. The fundamental prin- 
ciple of this myth is wide-spread and extended to many of the Plains 
tribes. 
In the next series of tales (Nos. 14 to 28) we have a general ac- 
count of the period of transformation following the emergence, ‘and 
which may be characterized in general as transformer legends. As 
with the Skidi, the poor boy among these tales is the culture hero, 
while Coyote, the great transformer of the Northwest, takes a very 
inferior part. At least three well-defined transformers appear in this 
series; the first in importance is the boy offspring of the woman who 
climbed to heaven and married a Star. His greatest work is freeing 
the land from the presence of the four destroying monsters. Only 
second to Star-Boy in importance is Sun-Boy (No. 16), whose special 
merit consists in the fact that he made long life possible, though only 
after a series of memorable contests with his powerful father. ‘The 
third transformer is Burnt-Hands, the Burnt-Belly of the Skidi.. Like 
