CHAPTER I.
SPEECH AND SPECULATION. PAGE.
Difference between Man and Brutes -- Mind-Language and Soul-Language -- Origin of Language: A Gift of the Creator, a Human Invention, or an Evolution -- Nature and Value of Myth -- Origin of Myth: The Divine Idea, a Fiction of Sorcery, the Creation of a Designing Priesthood -- Origin of Worship, of Prayer, of Sacrifice -- Fetichism and the Origin of Animal-Worship -- Religion and Mythology 1
CHAPTER II.
ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS.
Quiché Creation-Myth -- Aztec Origin-Myths -- The Papagos -- Montezuma and the Coyote -- The Moquis -- The Great Spider's Web of the Pimas -- Navajo and Pueblo Creations -- Origin of Clear Lake and Lake Tahoe -- Chareya of the Cahrocs -- Mount Shasta, the Wigwam of the Great Spirit -- Idaho Springs and Water Falls -- How Differences in Language Occurred -- Yehl, the Creator of the Thlinkeets -- The Raven and the Dog 42
CHAPTER III.
PHYSICAL MYTHS.
Sun, Moon, and Stars -- Eclipses -- The Moon Personified in the Land of the Crescent -- Fire -- How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Cahrocs -- How the Frog Lost His Tail -- How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Navajos -- Wind and Thunder -- The Four Winds and the Cross -- Water, the First of Elemental Things -- Its Sacred and Cleansing Power -- Earth and Sky -- Earthquakes and Volcanoes -- Mountains -- How the Hawk and Crow Built the Coast Range -- The Mountains of Yosemite 108
CHAPTER IV.
ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY.
Rôles Assigned to Animals -- Auguries from their Movements -- The Ill-omened Owl -- Tutelary Animals -- Metamorphosed Men -- The Ogress-Squirrel of Vancouver Island -- Monkeys and Beavers -- Fallen Men -- The Sacred Animals -- Prominence of the Bird -- An Emblem of the Wind -- The Serpent, an Emblem of the Lightning -- Not Specially connected with Evil -- The Serpent of the Pueblos -- The Water-Snake -- Ophiolatry -- Prominence of the Dog, or the Coyote -- Generally though not always a Benevolent Power -- How the Coyote let Salmon up the Klamath -- Danse Macabre and Sad Death of the Coyote 127