The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi | Page 2

York, 1926, p. 266.]

Some work has been done along this line by Kroeber for the tribes of
California, Lowie for the Crow Indians, and Junod for the Ekoi of West
Africa; but it appears that the anthropological problem of basic beliefs
and philosophies is dependent upon specific tribal studies and that more
research is called for.
=The Myth, Its Meaning and Function in Primitive Life=
As a background for our discussion we shall need to consider first, the
nature and significance of mythology, since there is some, indeed much,
difference of opinion on the subject, and to arrive at some basis of
understanding as to its function.
The so-called school of Nature-Mythology, which flourishes mainly in
Germany, maintains that primitive man is highly interested in natural
phenomena, and that this interest is essentially of a theoretic,
contemplative and poetical character. To writers of this school every
myth has as its kernel or essence some natural phenomenon or other,
even though such idea is not apparent upon the surface of the story; a
deeper meaning, a symbolic reference, being insisted upon. Such
famous scholars as Ehrenreich, Siecke, Winckler, Max Muller, and
Kuhn have long given us this interpretation of myth.
In strong contrast to this theory which regards myth as naturalistic,
symbolic, and imaginary, we have the theory which holds a sacred tale
as a true historical record of the past. This idea is supported by the
so-called Historical school in Germany and America, and represented
in England by Dr. Rivers. We must admit that both history and natural
environment have left a profound imprint on all cultural achievement,
including mythology, but we are not justified in regarding all
mythology as historical chronicle, nor yet as the poetical musings of
primitive naturalists. The primitive does indeed put something of
historical record and something of his best interpretation of mysterious
natural phenomena into his legendary lore, but there is something else,
we are led to believe, that takes precedence over all other
considerations in the mind of the primitive (as well as in the minds of
all of the rest of us) and that is getting on in the world, a pragmatic
outlook.
It is evident that the primitive relies upon his ancient lore to help him
out in his struggle with his environment, in his needs spiritual and his
needs physical, and this immense service comes through religious ritual,

moral incentive, and sociological pattern, as laid down in the cherished
magical and legendary lore of his tribe.
The close connection between religion and mythology, under-estimated
by many, has been fully appreciated by the great British anthropologist,
Sir James Frazer, and by classical scholars like Miss Jane Harrison. The
myth is the Bible of the primitive, and just as our Sacred Story lives in
our ritual and in our morality, as it governs our faith and controls our
conduct, even so does the savage live by his mythology.
The myth, as it actually exists in a primitive community, even today, is
not of the nature of fiction such as our novel, but is a living reality,
believed to have once happened in primeval times when the world was
young and continuing ever since to influence the world and human
destiny.
The mere fireside tale of the primitive may be a narrative, true or
imaginary, or a sort of fairy story, a fable or a parable, intended mainly
for the edification of the young and obviously pointing a moral or
emphasizing some useful truth or precept. And here we do recognize
symbolism, much in the nature of historical record. But the special
class of stories regarded by the primitive as sacred, his sacred myths,
are embodied in ritual, morals, and social organization, and form an
integral and active part of primitive culture. These relate back to best
known precedent, to primeval reality, by which pattern the affairs of
men have ever since been guided, and which constitute the only "safe
path."
Malinowski[3] stoutly maintains that these stories concerning the
origins of rites and customs are not told in mere explanation of them; in
fact, he insists they are not intended as explanations at all, but that the
myth states a precedent which constitutes an ideal and a warrant for its
continuance, and sometimes furnishes practical directions for the
procedure. He feels that those who consider the myths of the savage as
mere crude stories made up to explain natural phenomena, or as
historical records true or untrue, have made a mistake in taking these
myths out of their life-context and studying them from what they look
like on paper, and not from what they do in life.
[Footnote 3: Malinowski, B., Myth in Primitive Psychology: M.W.
Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 1926, p. 19.]
Since Malinowski's definition of myth differs radically from that