THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOLK-TALES AND MYTHS[1]
By Dr. FRANZ BOAS
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
THE collections of folk-tales and myths of all continents, but particularly North America, that have been accumulated during the last few decades, have yielded the definite result that the incidents of tales have a very wide distribution, that they have been carried from tribe to tribe, even from continent to continent, and have been assimilated to such an extent that rarely only there is any internal evidence that would indicate what is of native and what of foreign origin.
Although these incidents have a wide distribution, they have developed characteristic peculiarities in restricted parts of the territory in which they occur. I will illustrate this by means of some examples selected from among the folk-tales of the north Pacific coast of America.
An excellent illustration is presented by the North American tale of the Bungling Host. The fundamental idea of the story, the failure of the attempt to imitate magical methods of procuring food, is common to the whole North American Continent, apparently with the sole exception of California and of the Arctic coast. The incidents, however, show considerable variation. Confined to the north Pacific coast are the tricks of letting oil drip from the hands, of obtaining flshroe by striking the ankle, and of letting berries ripen by the song of a bird. The widely spread trick of cutting or digging meat out of the host’s body is practically unknown on the north Pacific coast. The host’s trick of killing his children, who revive, which forms part of the Bungling Host tale in the state of Washington and on the Plateaus, is well known on the north Pacific coast. However, it does not occur as part of this story. It is entirely confined to stories of visits to the countries of supernatural beings.
Similar observations may be made in regard to the prolific test theme. The dangerous entrance to the house of the supernatural beings is represented among the northern tribes of the north Pacific coast by the closing cave or by the closing horizon; among the tribes farther to the south, by a snapping door; on the western plateaus, by animals that watch the door of the house. Heat tests occur frequently, but in some regions the heat is applied by baking the youth in an
- ↑ Based on an investigation of the mythology of the Tsimshian, to be published in the Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
