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    Structural Study of Myth-Fras Boas PDF

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    Leonardo Alves

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    CHAPTER XI 952 ee The Structural Study of Myth ik woud seem dat myttlopcal worlds have been twit up only to be seated sun and Sa new words wee Dd rom fap” Prana Bont Des eee ee) ic eens ar dsing the pst tren yess apa hare erly ulm sa ef of ge ea the nd peasy Bete secre aed atopy fsa een om ve gee a Ks ances Sto chin lng oer dae oe bed ths ger Sy ety wing ts pe ian ‘had esa wane Te prope ore i yo Tiga tenn nderatet twee ie ree The rato tio i een achat nol yo igen ar sare by me the tyler ey tl Derk who teeny ot cred soph msn on Kp posh the Pore of Prchogal rach sa they, ii pea ee Ire obec ey he utd peg ph whch ty tl tr Wa Agh wet way gn gratin ole poco ey ny 1206 ; ) \ ‘The Structural Srudy of Myth paar handled these remained o crude that i treed them altogether. “This is moh ro be regretted, sine, a Hoeare so profoundly noted in his inoduedon to a pnthomous book recently. published? pychologicalnterpreatons were widen frm the melee Feld onlyto be introduce again in the ld of affeciiy, es acing 10 “the inherent defects of the rychologial school «- the mistake of driving clear-ent ideas +» from vague emotions” Instead of trying to enlnge the framework of os lg ro include procests wich, whatover their apparent diferenes, elon to the fume kind of inclecral operation, a nave etempe wat ade £0 Teduce them to inarticulate emotional drives, which resuled only inhampeting our din Of allthe chapters of religions anceopology probaly none has aed tothe sne vent assis in the fd of mythology. Frum theoretical poine of ew the swation remains wery mich the nme a twas ty years age, namely, chao, Myths are idly imerpreted in conficsing ways: av collective dees, the aise ofa Hind of eset pay, ora he base of ial Mytho- Togia figures are considered as personified abractions,dviie heroes, ofllen god Whatever the hypothesis the choice amounts to seducing mythology ether toile ply or toa crude kind of plilosophie speculation Ti order to underand what a myth rally mos we choose heeween plttude and soph? Some clam tbat human societies ineely express throogh ther mythology, fandameneal feclings common tothe whole of mankind, ich a Tove, hate, o revenge or thar they ty to provide some lind of explanations for phe- nomena which they cannot otherwise understand—astronomical, Inetcorelogial, and the like. Bue why shoul these socedes doe invsuch daborae and devious ways, when all of them are abo equsinted ich empiia explanation? On the other hand, psy- Cheanalyss and many antrepologis have shied the problens way fom the natural or cosmological toward he sotnlogial nd paychalogial fils. But then the imerpretation Becomes to tanya given mythology confer prominence on a ceria fg, Sty grandmother are acralyevl and shat mythology refeess {habe conflicting i would be a readily claimed tae the purpose - ol MAGIC AND RELIGION ‘be Sirctral Study of Myth | 209 YY of mythology isto provide an outer for repressed fesings: What sopporers? Whatever emendaons the orignal formation may So( rere sitaion, a clever dati wl always ind a way t pe- how cil for everybody will agree thatthe Sasurean principle fend that a meaning has been found of the arbitrary claracer of Dag signe was a prerequse for Mythology confrons the stadent with a station which a theaccesion oflingusiestothe sentclesc fies sghtappent contradictory. On the one hand je would sem “To invite the mythoogisr ro compare his precarious siwation da inthe course ofa myth anything ikely to happen, There ‘wth the ofthe ings inthe prescient sage isnot enough As ‘ologi, no contnaicy. Any charsteiti canbe attbuted to any 2 inter of face we may thos beled only fom one felt 0 abject every coneeable relation ean be found. With myth, e*- another, There a very good reson why myth exnaor simpy be erything becomes posible. But on-tic-ather and, this apparent treated as lnguage if i speci problems are o be solved; myth tbs is belied by he estoundng sinaty between myths Slanguage: tobe known, myth has tobe told isa pare of human solectedin-widely diferent regions, Therefore the problem If speech In order to preserve its peciicty we must beable to show the-content of a myth is contingent, how are we going eo explain | at ie is both the same thing 2s language, and also something dif- cfc that myths throughout world ae so sina | Se frese Hc no, pr ctenene of Ting eis precisely this awareness of bse antnomy pertaining to ss For language self can be analyzed into sings which ae tthe the mitre of myth that may lad us toward is soliton. For the |_| gamete afar and yet diferent. Ths is precisely wht ex- contradiction which we fae is very similar to that which in ealier 5 simes_brought considerable worry to the frst philosophers eon- ‘serued_with linguistic problems; linguistics could only begin to evolve as 2 science after this contradiction had been overcome. Ancient philosophers resoned about language the way we do rested in Sausmure’s distinction beeween logue and parole, one ngage, the other the statistical aspect oi “belonging to « reversble time, parole being _non~ “Teversble. IF those two levels already exist in language, then a third ‘one ean conceivably be isolated, it ay Ox satan baad Gr os tae en ‘We have dtged lenge ad parle bythe difleree ne Teguege coral seqnoc of ais vee ummcaesl EN caaes refers wih the se. Koop usin mind we nay aoee ht pee i lysed erage eter ‘Spt Gnd tercr which combina te proper of the eee eee ree ae, ve Onsen end ayy wee gl ere eiiealibraed Soccer iat ey acne fEectabes pace lg ago Bur wae gvs the mh an operons epic ater rar ecesy (roa ae a aes Vc the Speake parern dered is tele © expo, (epeiee ante aseryehr s= Spaanee ad the pce nd pt rel he frre. Than Bema] laird enacias) or gee ee ters: sigh conpatien berween(nyt und what spp 0 don of wand, neds wounds thameves which provi i Se ee ole ets, namely (plies) When snificane data. ‘the historian refers to the French Revolution, it is atone an fete Pee ete etter oe ordre ccs of pat lpperingy + marcel ee of ese the terprettions of mythological choughe originated from the sume Toor consequences of which may sil be fle at present. Bu 1 Peele cic rnpdintasioeuct wimp eter ve the French palin, well to it lowers she French Revo™ feos wicueamcawiec ane | inrin nds soqusne blogg to the peat tthe haodan moped pattie wall scicype—posesciaerin | wmerh clan free whic con be dete nth cotempo™ | f sess Th empath taped uo » say French soe srucare and whch provides 4 ae for ii teand ay pone crn finy wits neaning. fritz Tepe, lad rom which to infer fore development fe ceerecirettaree ie eae eerie oes ed Wii fr ince we policy minded tran, le do that are big, large, oud, or heavy, etc, a theory which sil has is seribes the French Revolution ehus: “That day... everything, aro | MAGIC AND RELIGION ‘The Structural Study of Myth [an ee ea ree ee eee eee | ‘way ath late ifr among themes; hey belong so higher Se ee eee Seinen ork For son we al ten fresher ae er a 9 W consisuene unis x olate these taining to the realm of perole and calling for an explanation 26 “How shall we in order to identity Beisel a A i letra a ance ee cast ee naneed ie eee = be an absolute entity on a thied level which, ehough it remains Tinguistc by nature, is nevertheless distinct from the ther two. ‘A remark can be introduced at this point which will help to show the originality of myth in relation to other linguistic phe- romena. Myth isthe part of language where the forma tradut- ore, radittore reaches its lowest uth value, From that poing of view it should he placed in the gamut of linguistic expressions Hane ~ etter ue caper ce aan, ee Ve ee ee Corton; whereas the myth value of the myth is prescrved even through the worst tanslacion. Whatever ou ignorance ofthe ane guage and the culeare of the people whete it originated, a myth s Sill fleas a myth by any reader anywhere in dhe word. es sub- stance dors note in is sve, original musi, ort sytax, but in Netto chee Myth langue, urcuening on ope: cially high evel where meaning succeeds practically at “taking of” from the linguist ground on which ie keeps on roling. [asuneapfthe dscosion at this point, we have so far made te folowing claims: (1) If there i'a meaning to be found in mythology, i cannot reside in the iolced elements whieh enter jnto the composition af a meh, in the way thse elements axe combined. (2) Although myth belongs wo the same category 25 Ianguage, being, as a matter of fact, only pare of it, language jn smytivexhibits specie properties. (5) Those properties are only t0 be found above the ordinary linguistic level, that i they exhibit ‘more comple f ‘which are eo be found in eny other Kind of linguist expreson Ifthe above three pois are granted, at lest a8 a working laypothesis, wo consequences wil follow: (+) Myth, like the set ‘of language, made up of constinuent units (2) This constituent ‘Unis _presuppose the constituent units preint Ta language when aualyed on other leves-namely, phonemes, morghemes, and Sememes—boe they, nevertheless, difer from the later ia the sme Vio eee eee eee {and avoog plouenes,arpoeras or scasoe, but ony tek fs Iigten yee eras ca enkdecone cones Wr ey othe nd of speech. Therefor, we shoul look for them onthe sentence level. ‘The only method we can suggest ar Chis stage to Frocecd tenraively, by el and cor, gata check te pro Epes wich sre 2t 4 bass for any bind of sructora analyse cou of cxplnation, sity of eention; ad ably 0 reson sina the whole from 4 fiagment, a well a ler sages from poston net “The vechnique which at etn applied ofar by thi wer com sists in analyzing each myth individually, breaking down its story | into the shorrest possible sentences, and writing each-SEnTENCE on \ an index card bearing a number corresponding to the unfolding | sisesoey: n subject. Or, to put it otherwise, However, the above definition remains highly unsasfactory for cwo differen reasons rss well known to srucrorlln- igoiststhac constituent units on all levels are made up of relations, ful a ee clleees Career cor eu carroed ecient mains unexplainedGecorty we sl find ourselves in the realm of rnon-reversble time, since the numbers ds correspond 9 the unfolding of the narrative. Thos the speciic character of sythological ine, which as we have seen is both reversible and non-reversible, synchronic and diacheonic, remains unaccounted for. From ehis springs afpew hypothesisjwhich constitutes che very a eee re ‘argument: The (rue constituent units of a.m xa given time, linked 44 ‘Practically each card will thos show that a certain function i, fo a8 to produce a meaning. Relations pertaining to the same bun le may appear diachroniclly at remote intervals, but when we have succeeded in grouping them together we have seorganized ‘our myth according to a time referent of a new nature, corre- ‘The Structural Study of Myth jas am | MAGIC AND RELIGION sponding to the prerequisite of the initial hypothesis, namely a ewo- the nature of the deck of cards being used, that is, fifty-two or Tose ame riss _ (igrre earning ote ot pt op fo oe synehroni, and which accordingly integrates the characteristics of gous sets consisting of the sume units (che individual cards) with dng on the one hand, and those of parole on the other, To put it ly one varying feature, the si, Now for afore: erampleof the method we propote. We shal use the Oodipes myth whieh is well own ta everyone. L fm wel avare thar the Oedipus myth has only seached ws under fee Torus and through leary tnsmiadore concerned more tric eaetic and moral preoos pasos than With religions orf Talloncy, wheucrer these faye bee Bur we ll po erp the Oxdipus yeh in lien teams, nach le oer an explanation in even more linguistic terms, i eV aysimade up of alts variants. “Tayo comparisons may help to explain what we have in mind. Let us first suppore chat archaeologists of the furare coming from another planet would one day, when all human life had dis- appeared from the cart, excavate one of our libraries. Even if they were at first ignorane of our writing, they mighe succeed in sas though a phoneme were al- ‘leiphering it—an undertaking which would require a some eaely acceprable to the special. We simply wish to ilusrae—and sage, the discovery that the alphabet, as we are in the habit of } without reaching any conclusions with Fespect co it—a certain prog i, should be read from lef right and from top to bot- technique, whose use i probably nor legiimare in his panicular fom, However, chey would soon discover that a whole category of instance, owing wo the problematic elements indicated above. The oka eh eee eel persion em ordula Geto ‘emonsraon” should therefore be conceived, not in terms of shat che scienise means by this term, but at best in terms of what is meant by the street peddles, whose aim is not wo achieve a con- crete result, but to explain, as succinely as possible, the fanction- ing of the mechani toy which he is tying to all tothe on- lookers, “The myth will be treated as an orchestra score would be if it swore unwittingly considered asa unilnear series, our tak isto re- ctablish the correct arrangement. Say, for instance, we were con- plex pattem and read as a whole? By geting ar whar we call (Part ee orem od j fronted with a sequence of the type: 12y417s82346:8 tof 570804 Sec ee cornice ee 257568.» the asignment being to put all the 1S t- after page, and Trom le wo right—and apnehronicaly long the geen all che as, thes tes the role ina hace fae ba ela eee eee yey Soacamecmwie | | el erage pane ae area ee ee | Ee ghee aay elacractcne Bee eee vie cartes aea ee ee other ais, all the notes written vertically making up one gross ‘constituent unit, that i, one bundle of relations. es ‘The other comparison is somewhat different. Let us take an observer gran of tar paying easing for lang cine with os ra eet aces ees seem pot cre ee oe eespiyial spesesonycal ssGea, ein the cane wey | te Low someting ofthe diferent clare whowe myth we ey We sl anempe to pefor these kind of operon on To ei ie rol cn let he errs rece hod the Oudips myth, ying ou sever rangement ofthe myth SEB aergy Gite actat coccinea {nes unt we find ove Which ifn hamony wih the princes Spe tec eyeing eo rece Oates me ohn tnumerated show. Let us suppor forthe ke of argument, tat Thave porte problem are that ifthe man right and ifthe {he bat arangement the folowing (aldough nigh cerily ‘material available to him is sufficient, he may be able o reconseruct | bbe improved with the help of a specialist in Greck mythology): “we oT ee wttieed eer nk e eel ye® MAGIC AND RELIGION ees s a sis sister Eu- sek ks renaahed ae we iss ws ae we sprain mx “The Spal kil nc other Ocdips ils aos (Osdips fa- bis father, es) left te o posits cores | ‘Oedipus marsice é Beemer & Jocasta ae x eles ils ee o bbe es Polynices woe v scion bcs eet ester We ae yee € Sees ‘We thus find ourselves confronted with four vertical columns, ‘ech of which includes several relations belonging to the same ‘bundle, Were we to zll the myth, we would disregard the cofomns ‘and read the rows from lef ro right end from top to bottom. But iff we wane co understand che myth, then we will have to disregard ‘one half of the diachronic dimension (top to bottom) and read from left to right, column after column, each one being considered The Structural Study of Myth | a5 All the selaions belonging 0 the ii _somsnon fee shih ont ant dscaner, For ace ll the events grouped in the fs column on the Tfe have something to do with Hood slaons which are overemphasized, that is are ‘more intimate chan they shoud be, Le us sty, chen, tha the fs ‘column Ras as common festre the overrating of blood relations Tes obvious tha the second column express the sme thing, But invered: underating of blood relations. ‘The third column refers to monsters beng sin. As tothe four, afew words of clara tion are needed. The remarkable connoraton of the surnames in Ocdipus’ father-Hine has often been noticed. However, linguiss ually degre sine co them the only way to define the mean- sil personal-names, precely because they are std ax ah. are ‘hot accompanied by any context. With the method we propose 0 follow the objection disappears, since the myth itself provides irs ‘own context. The significance is no Tonger to be soughe in the eventual meaning of each name, but in the fact shar all the names have a common feature: All the hypothetical meanings (which may well remain hypothetical) refer to ficulties im nulking sraight and sunding upright. ‘What then isthe relationship berween the two columns on she right? Colum three refers to monsters. The dragon is a ehthonian Oe ‘being which has to be killed in order that mankind be born from ‘he Earth; che Sphine is a monster unwiling ro permir men to live. “The las unit reproduces the firse one, which has to do with the a sin of mankind, Since the monsters ate over ‘ws thus. say that che common feature of the ‘come by men, i he cor ature of the sum is denis! ofthe surocbehonous origin of man ‘This immediately helps us co understand the meaning of the fourth column. In mythology i isa universal characteristic of men ei oe Sardar oie gna eee depth they either eannor walk or chey walk clumsily. This isthe ‘ase of the chthonian beings in the mythology of the Pueblo: Muyingwo, who leads the emergence, and the chthonian Sho- imaikoli are lame (“bleeding-foot,” “sore-foot”). The sane bap- pens to the Koskimo of the Kavakiul after they have been seral- lowed by the chthonian monster, Tiaksh: When they reeursed to the surface of the earth “they limped forward or tipped side- 26 | MAGIC AND RELIGION ‘The Structural Study of Myth ‘nays Thus the common fetare of the fourth eal i he per- contrary, we define the myth x consing ofall XZ sistence of the autochtbonous origin of man. It follows that_col- put it otherwise, a myth remains che sime as Tong as itis felt as sn four it colin three as column one ico column wo. The ch, A sling example offered by the fact eat oar irprea- = of relationships is overcome (or ‘ion may take into account the Freaian ot of the Oedipns myth claronshipe and & cerinly aplcble to X. Altiough the Freodian problem =\ peopel agp gre oe mane pen ae Fs proviral formation oF the itis mil the problem of undertnding how one ean be born feom cl though, jie dient ae is age to: How i it that we do aot have only one procreaton, but “Taming back othe Oetipos myth, we may now sce whse other plas a father? Therefore, no only Sophocles, bot Free seas, Thy ha todo wifhe fail, for seule which himself, shouldbe included among the recorded version of hl holds he bel tha mankind ic aurochtionou (ee, for insane, Ocdipos myth on a par with eer or seemingly more “authentic Pasi, VIL, mai, 4 plane provide 2 model for homine, versions ony temition between this theory and the know ‘An important consequence follows. fa mth is made up of ledge thar himan beings are actully bor from the union of man al is varia, strolls shold ake al of them nro ac- fand woman, Although the problem obvionsly cannot be solved, the ‘count. After analyzing all the known variants of the Theban ver sdipus myth provides/s kind of logical tol] which eles the ion we should thas erat the others in the same way: fst the pital problem—born from one or born from ewo?—eo the de- tales abowe Labdace’ collard line including Agnve, Pentheus Fre problem born from ferent or born from same? By a snd Jocuta herself, the ‘Theban varia about Lycos with Am- ‘omeaton ofthis typ. the overating of bload raion sto the Pion and tor asthe cir founder, more remote vacant con- eed cet et store cape eee Ecming Dionyns (Oedipor matiateral coon); and Athenian leg- thong ito the ipsa ro sucseed in i Although experience nds where Cscrops tales the place of Caden, er. For cach of contacts theory, socal ie validates cosmology byt smarty ‘hem ase chare should be drawn and hen compared and re- fracture. Hence comoogy is trie. ‘onpunized according tothe findings ‘ling the serpent “Tyvo remarks should be made a chis tage. In order vo interpre the myth, we left aside a poine which bas ‘worried the specialists until now, namely, that in the earlier (Ho- meri) versions of the Oedipus myth, some basi elements are lack ‘with the parallel episode of Cadmos; abandonment of Dionysus ‘with abandonment of Oedipus; “Swollen Foot” with Dionysus’ Jozi, chat is, walking obliquely; Buropa’s quest with Antiope’s; the founding of Thebes by the Spartoi or by the brothers Amphiom ing, such as Jocass King herself and Ocdios piercing fis own and Zetos; Zeus kidnapping Faropa and Aatiope andthe sane with cy. These erent do nor aker the aulmance of dhe myth although Senle; the Theban Oedipus and the Argian Perseus, te. We shall they can easily be integrated, the first one as a ne 0- ‘then_have several [fwo-dimensional_ charts] each dealing with a [odes Sire ‘arin, to be orgiized in athree-dimensional order shown in pledoes (column four). At che same tne theses something sgi- igute16,s0 that thre differen readings become posi fant in these addons since the ehife from foot to head to BE ‘igh, cop to bottom, front to buck (or vice vers), All of thee ‘orelted with the shift from autochthonous origin to sl-desturuc- «a, J chars connor be expected to be identical; but experince shows f4 that any diference to be observed may be corzelaed with other (Gur method ns cinta problem which beso fa, ben diferenes, otha «logical sreatment-of the whole-wil allow one ofthe main obeaces tothe progres of mythologies, simplifications, the fina, haw of te | namely, the quest for the true version, or the garlier one. On the myth —— a8 | Ng MAGIC AND RELIGION ae is e a no Rice 16 Ac this poine the objection may bo raised thatthe task is i= posible to perform, since we can only work with known versions. Isic nor possible chat a new vers alter the picture? This is tue enough if only one or two versions are avaiable, bu the ob- jection becomes theoretical as soon as a ressonably lange number hhave been recorded. Ler us make this poine clear by a comparison. Ifthe furniture of a room and ies arrangement were known to us only through is reflection in ewo mirrors placed on opposite walls, ‘we should theorerically dispose of an almost infinite number of mirror images which would provide us with a complete know! edge. However, should the two mirrors be obliquely se, the num- / bet of mirror images would become very small; nevertheless, four or | five such images would very likely give us, if not complete infor- tation, atleast a suficient coverage so that we would feel sure that no large piece of farntare is mising ia ou description, ©n the other hand, ic cannot be too strongly emphasized that all available variants should be tea into account. If Freudian ‘comments on the Oeipos complex are a pat of the Oxdipas mith, ‘hen questions such as whether Cushing's version of the Zuni ori- gin myth shouldbe retained or discarded become irelevant, There I {.no single “true” version of which all the others are but copies or “The reason forthe discouraging remit in works on gentral smuchology can finally be understood. They stem from two crus, Clim propesive yl miythol dl esr€id of using them all, Gccond, Wwe have seen that the structural oth ov ae The Structural Study of Mytb | 29 ani of one vino of ne myth ging to oe ee Gi Some exes even of vllae) alee cei ro dimensions ‘When wets ever yarns ofthese myth forte re ib tc vilage, che frame of refeence becomes tee-dnenstona f= mont we ty elege the compari, the member of tenon equine increases tl appers quis tape ohn ‘Beem imusrely The confos aod pstrdss wich ar te oateame of comparative mythology can be explained by the fk she mina res of es a fe cel or are ately replaced hy tor oc three-dinetsonal ons ndeed, ee ee eae on of mathesatcian who woul undertake to expres "To check this theory." an artempe was made from 1 1954 ward an exhaortive analy of all the known versions of the Zant origin and emergence my Casing, 18%) and TEs, Seven Pn uy Due Bei ye Fa rermoreya preliminary attempe was made ata comparison ofthe reste with cmilar myths in other Pueblo tcibes Westen and Eancerm Frlly, ates undertaken with Pans mythclogy. In ‘not only on North American mythology, but aiso.on-a previously nied lind of lg operation or ae tnown eT only 4 wholly dierent contet ‘The bull of material which needs fo be handled pracy at the outset of the work makes t imposible to enter into deals and we shall hve to lini ourselves here oa few strains ‘A simplifed chare ofthe Zani emergence myth would read: mechanical emergenceledsbingincest god il chit. Yalu of planss iy Beloved (originof Gren of men (by (Gsedaidders Teine wie) arowning) ‘oemerge from lower worl) foodvalue of | sigration led magica contest vwld plants the ewo ‘with People of fewelowe the Dew (col: 220 MAGIC AND RELIGION (eel Jeng wid Seven) fo Some cule ‘ston brother nd Srerssrced (rogaine oo) food vila of Stave pene broter nd Siersioped Cinexcuage — peso chat Scerofagi Coun ork ‘ar agunet he Kyansiowe (go fences ern frances) food value of fame (heting) svar led by the tro War’ Gots inevitability of salvation of che warfare cf tribe (center of the World found) bother and Sher serifeed (Gosveidthe Flood) As the chart indicates, she problems the discovery of a life death mediation. For the Pueblo, this is especially difficult; they understand the origin of human life in terms of the model of ‘The Seructural Study of Mytb jan life (emergence from the earth). ‘They share that belief with the ancient Greeks, and it is not without reason that we chose the ‘Oedipus myth as our frst example. Bur in the American Indian which is periodical in navute, that is, which consists in an alterna- sion berven life and death. I this s disregarded, the contradiction Jappears elewhere: Agdiculture provides food, therefore life; but hunting provides food and is sinilar to warfare which means death, Hlence there are gree diferent ways of handling the problem. In the Cushing version, the dificulty revolves around an opposition Deeween activites yielding an immediate sesule (collecting wild food) and activities yielding a delayed resule—death has to become itegared o tha agreneurs can ers Parone’ versa ds fron Ihunting to agriculture, while Stevenson's version operates the other ‘way around. Ie can be shown cha all the differences between these versions canbe rigorously correlated with these base structures. “Thus the three versions describe che great war waged by the ancestors ofthe Zuni againse a mythical population, the Kyanakwe, by introducing into the narrative significant variations which ‘consist (1) in the friendship or hostility of the gods; (2) in the ‘granting of final vierory to one eamp ot the other; (3) in the attribution of the symbolic fancrion ro the Kyanakwe, described sometimes a8 hunters (whose bows are strung with animal sinews) and sometimes as gardeners (whose bows are strung with plant fibers). \z the highest form of plant hfe is to be found in agriculture allied, use Sher Kyanakwe, (Gods, allied, use Gods ‘cing on their lane, weber | Men’ Gb suing ye | brs (gue song Men, lone, wsesinew | Gods) allied, ue sinew Kyanakwe, alone, (ancl they shire co IMen) ring we seeing fer) Since fiber string (agriculture) is always superior to sinew sering (hunting), and since (toa lesser extent) the gods alliance is pref- rable to their antagonism, it follows that in Cushing's version, sen are seen as doubly underprivileged (hostile gods, sinew string); a | MAGIC AND RELIGION in the Stevenson version, doubly privileged (Friendly gods, Sber string); while Parsons’ version confroes us with a intermeaiary Siuation (Eien gods, butsinew sings, ince men begin by being hones). Hence: qo ees ed i a aa ane aes oe een Sarraredeneunaeaeae oe maine ais ine Seance eee oes ea oe Fara i tes or = See Sine a aloes or Soe eee (Mechanical valu of oncins the plant kingdom ke eee ttt Food valu of the plane [ingdom, linived fo wild plies Food alu of he plane acne, gdom, including wild peta ees Food valu he aninal (du here ra contra ingelom, limited to ani- dition bere, oxing 10 a the negation of He — Destruction of the ani. @#rHeHIom, Bence) wurering mal Kingdom, extended to huiman beings Kade The Structural Study of Myth [23 “Th fac ct contin spp in till of he esa | proces remit in-a double st of diocure pis che purpose of ‘hich to mediate Between conflicting tsrms divine 2 ceremonial 2 war-gods mesenges lowe A 2 homogeneous siblings (brother couple __eterogencout eiecad alse) Gente pr (Grothe) wife) Karandmocher sand grandchild) ‘We have here combinational variants of the same function in dif- ferent contexts (hence the war attribute of the clowns, which has sn ise to 99 many queries). ‘The problem, often regarded as insoluble, vanishes when i is shown that the gluttons who may with impuniey make ‘af | excessive use of agricultural products—have theCsime funcxi09 in ‘| ition to food production as heSwar-gods) (This funtion ap- pears, in the dialectical process, aCoverstepping the DowndaricDot ¥ { himuing, hie, hunting for men instead of for animals for homsn .) Some Central and Eastern Pucblos proceed the other way’ around. They begin by sting the identity of hunting and cultiva- tion (first com obeained by Game-Father sowing deer-dewelaws), and chey try to derive both life and death from thar central notion, ‘Then, intead of extreme terme being simple and intermediary ones duplicated as among the Western groups, the extreme terms be- ‘come duplicated (ie, the two sisters of the Fastern Pueblo) while «simple mediating term comes to the foreground (for instance, the Poshaiyanne of the Zia), bur endowed with equivocal areributes. ‘Hence the atributes of this “messiah” can be deduced from the place it occupies in the time sequence: good when at the begianing ‘Zani, Cushing), equivoeal in the middle (Central Pueblo), bad at the end_(Zia), excepe in Bunzel’s version, where the sequence is ‘reversed at hasbeen shown. By systematically using sis Kind of srucual analysis it be- a | MAGIC AND RELIGION ‘Our method not only hat the advantage of bringing some kind of order to what was previously chaos; it also enables us to perceive so Jogical_processeDwhich are at the root of ‘mythical chought* Cheee main processhould be dsiaguished. ‘The trickster of American mythology has remained so far a problematie figure. Why is eth throughout North America his role is axigned practically everywhere to either coyote or raven? Tf_we Keep in mind that mythical thoughe always progres from the awarenes of oppostions toward ther resolution, the reason for these choices becomes clearer, We need only asume tat two op- poste terms with no inermediary always tend to be replaced by ewo equivalent rms which admit of «third one a8 « metitor on of the polar terms and the mediator become replaced by a new ead, and 30 on, Thus we have a mediating structare ofthe following type: : ra jeulture Ty a tein) (ven; coyote) 77, Weta Death ‘The unformulaced argument is as follows: carrion-eating ani- mals are like beasts of prey (chey eat animal food), but they are also like food-plant producers (they do not Kill what they ext). Or to pot it otherwise, Pueblo style (for Pucblo agricultare is ‘more “meaningful” chan hunting): ravens are co gardens as beasts ‘of prey are to herbivorous annals. But ics also clear that herbi ‘orous animals may be called fist to act as mediators on the 25- sumption that they are like collectors and gatherers (plant-food fates), while they can be used a5 animal food though they are not themselves hunters. Thus we may have mediators ofthe fist order, The Structural Study of Myth | 235 of the second order, and so on, where each term generates the next bby double process of opposition and correlation. This kind of process can be followed in the mythology of the Pains, where we may order the data according tothe set: sc aneoncenamnnen seni ea cee oes Hecometeiaia Salo fee pk cede fae ‘While among the Pueblo (Zuni) we have the corresponding se: Swccesful mediator between Barth and Sky onal Seni-tomegentos pst of medias Wyuyew! snd Macailena) Homogeneous pi of mediators {ther Abaya) On the other hand, correlations may appear on 2 horizontal axis (his i are even on the linguistic level, se the manifold con- notation of the root ose in Tewa according to Parsons: coyote, mis, scalp, ete). Cavote (a carron-eater) is intermediary be ‘aren herbivorous and eamivorous just as mit berween Sky and ‘Ear as scalp between war and agrcaeure (scalp i war crop); as com snc between wild and eultvated plans 5 garments be- ‘azeen “nature” and “culrure", ax reuse Derween vilage and out Side, and as ass (or soot) beeween roof (ky vaukt)-and heath (a the ground). Thi chain of mediator, i one may cll them so, a ily throws light on entire parts of North Americar fe thology why the Dew-God may be atthe same time the Game- Maser and the giver of iments and be personified as an “Aah-Boy”; or why sealps ae m-producing; or why the Game- Mother is ssocated with corn amt ete—-buF i corresponds to[a univers way of organizing dally experience] See, for instance the French for plant srt (alle, from Latin nebula); the Iuck-bringing power atibured in Europe to refuse (old shoe) and ashes (lissing chimney sweeps); and compare the = 226 | MAGIC AND RELIGION American Ash-Roy cycle with the Indo-European Cinderella: Both are phallic figures (mediators beween male and female); masters of the dew and the game; owners of fine rsiments; and social medi- ators (low class marrying into high class); but they are impossible tere hough teen difuin, hat been comended since fail (while the borrowed Cinderella tale in America—Zani “Turkey-Gisl—is parallel othe prototype). Hence the chat: Sex female male Forty Stems oie fami 0 family (orphan) (ceiacied father) cao Appesrnce prey ge gly boy Sentimental tus nobody likes her unrequited love for gn Trenformation —utiousy clothed stripped of ugines ‘with supernatural—witsoperatarl help lp “Thos like Ash-Boy and Cinder thick a media. Since his menting function occuits 9 postion halfway berwen “vo pot tm, hemos cen something of tha dualty—namely aiLambiguont and equivaet sharaer Bar the tckster Bure not the only conccirable form of mediation; some myths sem be entirely devored tothe tas of exhausting al the posible sla. tions tothe problem of bridging the gap berween fen and one For insanee) a comparon becween all te variants of the Zuni emergence myth provides us witha series of mediating devios, tach of whic goer the ner oe bya pose of eppedon ater ceaee es Zo messiah > diocuri > wicker > bea being > sling pac > mar- Hed copie > rant grandchild > four kom proce © tad In Cushing's version, cis dialectic is associated with a change from «8 spatial dimension (mediation beeween Sky and Farth) to a tem The Structural Study of Mytb | 27 dimension (mediation berweea summer and winter, that i brerween birth and death). Bue while che sife is being made from space to time, the final solution (rind) re-introduces space, since 2 triad consis ofa dioseurie pair pls a mesiah, presnesmulrne- cvly and wile the point of depareure was ostensibly formulated in tems of a space soferat (Sky and Hard), chs was neverthe- Jess implicitly conceived in terms ofa time referent (frst the mes Sia call, eben the dioscusi descend). Therefore the logic of myth confronts us with a double, reciprocal exchange of functions (0 ‘hich we shall earn shordy. [Not only can we account for the ambiguous character of the teickter, but we can alto understand another property of aes te ald ores ely ats een ged cael ‘with contradictory atributes—for instance, he may be good and ‘beds che sme time, If we compare the variants of the Hopi myth ‘Of he origin of Shalao, we may order them in terms ofthe fol- lowing sructure: (Masauwn: =) = (Muyingwu: Masauwa) ~ (Shalako: Muyingwa) = (9 Massuwy) where and y represent arbitrary values corresponding to the fact that in the two “extreme” variants the god Masauvvu, while ap- pearing alone rather than associated with another god, asin variant two, or being absent, as in variant three, sll retains intrinsically a relative value. Invariant one, Masauwu (alone) is depicted as help fal to mankind (though noc a helpful a he could be), and in ver- sion four, harmful co mankind (chough not 2s harmfal ashe could be). His role is thos defined—at least implicitty—in contrast with another sole which is posible but noe specified and which is rep- resented here by the values x and 9. In version 2, on the ocher hhand, Muyingua is relatively more helpfal than Masauvra, and in version three, Shalako more helpfal than Mayingwu, We find an identical series when ordering the Keresan variants: (Poshaiyanki: +) = (Lea: Poshuiyanki) ~ (Poshaiyankit Tiamoai) 1G: Poshaiyank’) ‘This logical framework is particularly interesting, since an- thropologiss are already acquainted with it on two other levele— ‘The Structural Study of Myth [ 229 technica help. A variant of average length requires several hundred cards to be properly analyzed. To discover a suitable pattern of rows and columns for those cards, special device are needed, con- siting of vertical boards about six feet long and four and a half feet high, where cards can be pigeooholed and moved at wil. In ‘order fo build up three-dimensional models enabling one to eo pare che variants, several such boards are necessary, and this in tuen (_ MAGIC AND RELIGION ard to the problem of the pecking order among hens, Se aes in heBeld of Kinship, By sesoenidng-icin-unth eel of mythical thought, we may find ourselves in a_better_position mythical choughe, we may find ourselves in a betver position co appmise fs basic importance in anthropological studies and to diay naw uaecculae ising a whole series evan part as acenguniaectone aaedoe ee ge eee alk ul splAlthough tis aot posible a the aa Wee ahi: Fasc wap a oe i frame of reference becomes mult-dimensional (whieh occurs at an | Se ee es thigh wil ce Kr (es stage, as has been shown above) the board system has to 5 ‘which will certainly need to be refined inthe future, ie seems that every myth (considered as the aggregate ofall its variants) corre- sponds a: | ofthe fllowing type: be replaced by perforated cards, which in tom require IBM equip- / Sire eae acly repe eee ce ashe uta eee oye sree eae Fy Wag ren af ae ere lt igen err eee ee ie aera acer ace ane [Stionocquplistin ofthe sme sequence 1 ur hypothe pak ete seat sind reaper acalsctipesd the Rares a chon Tis RRR TERETE Grecia of cove apd peter, ander re conte () Wet ec cnnder te arvcrar ofthe myth apgnen. For we have secu aa ln eeaesd bya oppo (a ie does terms sad ae eee ieee £1); @) that an veron be td between te ein etd ee eee a eae ome el) a rode eto cheats Gora aul STH shoal be rend synchrony she columns). Thos yeh hE ep porn Sree aa eee (Epesiesioct tieGer reer] lm eee Spal, roo te proces of epedcon. Scarica meses een eee rt operas Seciearach ae eee ere Eero ote Br een elegy ee he op (Gees et nei prove «og oe cable ober a ee a era ra aca desar Co apeeabie achpeneae Tse BQ): Fy) FA): Fray) conditions 1 and 2 respectively) we should not only be able to provide a more precise and rigorous formulation of the genetic law ‘of the myth, bur we would find ourselves in the much desired po- sition of developing side by side the anthropological and the psychological amects of the theory; we might ako take Te to the Taboratory and subjectitto experimental verification. "At tis poine it seems unfortunate that with the limited means at the disposal of French anthropological research no farther ad- vance ean be made. I'should be emphasized thac the task of analyz mythological literature, which is extremely bull of breaking it down into is constituent unis, requires team work and | ‘pens, the contradiction is rel), a theoretically infinite number of Sates will be generated, each one slightly different from the others. “Thus, myth grows spiral-wise uni the intellectual impulse which ths produced i ethaused Ts grog Ba condanone pees sets its uructue remains discontinuous 1f this i the exse, we ould assume chat ie closely corresponds, in the realm of che spoken word, ro(i trys in the reslo of physical matter. This analogy may nd. the relationship of myth ‘both langue on the one hand aad parole on the other, Myth is intermediary entity between a statistical aggregate of mole- eules andthe molecular structure itself 330 | MAGIC AND RELIGION Prevalent stems to explain alleged differenees beeween the socalled primitive mind and scene thought have reored to alate differences becween the working proceses of the mind in both cases, while asuming the the entities which they were seudying remained very moch the sime. If our interpretation is correct, we are led toward a completly different view—namely, at he hind of logic in mythical though sas rigorous atthe of ‘modem science, and thatthe diference les notin the qoalty of ‘the intlleral proces, bu in the nature of the ching to which ie is applied. This & well in agreement with the stuaon known to ‘revall inthe field ofrechnology: What makes a sel sx superior fo a stone axis noc thatthe fist oe is better made than the second. “They are equally well made, but ste is quite different fom sone, Inthe same way we may be able to show thatthe same logical proceses operate in myth a in science, and that man has always lbcen thinking equally well; the improvement lies, not in an alleged progres of man's mind, butin she dicovery of new area to which may apply its unchanged and unchanging powers ‘NOTES 1. In Boa Introduction to James Tet, “Trdions af tbe Thompson River [ins of Breh Columbia” Memoir ofthe nericn Fottare Soc, VE Gt98). p18 Moca Sock Orcs (Loder: 95). 7.7 , 5. Sez for dnstance, Se = ‘of Language” Journal of Waid Ht) bes (UNESCO, 59) 1 See Smile Benveniste, "Naeare da sige lnguisige,” Acta Linguntics, 1 Not (939); and Chapter V in the presene volume. 5. Jokes Michele Hoe de Revolt Fraga, IV, x 1 rok thi Susan fom Me NesemPomy, Ler Avene dls acre Bis ee p00 besos Ural eileen bm gem {hs would be presimpreor anderen meanings our pare. Soe Se ‘Ocdipos meh is akan here merely s an example ested in arbieary {adits eeonian exe seed othe Spc mig nem rpc Ing We shal refer vo he textmony ef Marie Delcoure "inthe ardic legends, [she 1] eersinly born ofthe Earth il” (Onde oI gece

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