CHAPTER II.

THE HERO-GODS OF THE ALGONKINS AND IROQUOIS.

Sec.1. The Algonkin Myth of Michabo.

THE MYTH OF THE GIANT RABBIT—­THE RABBIT CREATES THE WORLD—­HE MARRIES THE
MUSKRAT—­BECOMES THE ALL-FATHER—­DERIVATION OF MICHABO—­OF WAJASHK, THE
MUSKRAT—­THE MYTH EXPLAINED—­THE LIGHT-GOD AS GOD OF THE EAST—­THE FOUR
DIVINE BROTHERS—­MYTH OF THE HUAROCHIRIS—­THE DAY-MAKERS—­MICHABO’S
CONTESTS WITH HIS FATHER AND BROTHER—­EXPLANATION OF THESE—­THE SYMBOLIC
FLINT STONE—­MICHABO DESTROYS THE SERPENT KING—­MEANING OF THIS
MYTH—­RELATIONS OF THE LIGHT-GOD AND WIND-GOD—­MICHABO AS GOD OF WATERS
AND FERTILITY—­REPRESENTED AS A BEARDED MAN.

Sec.2. The Iroquois Myth of Ioskeha.

THE CREATION OF THE EARTH—­THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH OF IOSKEHA—­HE OVERCOMES
HIS BROTHER, TAWISCARA—­CREATES AND TEACHES MANKIND—­VISITS HIS
PEOPLE—­HIS GRANDMOTHER, ATAENSIC—­IOSKEHA AS FATHER OF HIS
MOTHER—­SIMILAR CONCEPTIONS IN EGYPTIAN MYTHS—­DERIVATION OF IOSKEHA AND
ATAENSIC—­IOSKEHA AS THARONHIAWAKON, THE SKY SUPPORTER—­HIS BROTHER
TAWISCARA OR TEHOTENNHIARON IDENTIFIED—­SIMILARITY TO ALGONKIN MYTHS.

Nearly all that vast area which lies between Hudson Bay and the Savannah river, and the Mississippi river and the Atlantic coast, was peopled at the epoch of the discovery by the members of two linguistic families—­the Algonkins and the Iroquois.  They were on about the same plane of culture, but differed much in temperament and radically in language.  Yet their religious notions were not dissimilar.

Sec.1. The Algonkin Myth of Michabo.

Among all the Algonkin tribes whose myths have been preserved we find much is said about a certain Giant Rabbit, to whom all sorts of powers were attributed.  He was the master of all animals; he was the teacher who first instructed men in the arts of fishing and hunting; he imparted to the Algonkins the mysteries of their religious rites; he taught them picture writing and the interpretation of dreams; nay, far more than that, he was the original ancestor, not only of their nation, but of the whole race of man, and, in fact, was none other than the primal Creator himself, who fashioned the earth and gave life to all that thereon is.

Hearing all this said about such an ignoble and weak animal as the rabbit, no wonder that the early missionaries and travelers spoke of such fables with undisguised contempt, and never mentioned them without excuses for putting on record trivialities so utter.

Yet it appears to me that under these seemingly weak stories lay a profound truth, the appreciation of which was lost in great measure to the natives themselves, but which can be shown to have been in its origin a noble myth, setting forth in not unworthy images the ceaseless and mighty rhythm of nature in the alternations of day and night, summer and winter, storm and sunshine.