they have preserved them in their mythology? We might as well ask why the
ancient nations should have invented so many irregular verbs, and why they
should have preserved them in their grammar. A fact does not cease to be a
fact, because we cannot at once explain it. As far as our knowledge goes
at present, we are justified in stating that the Aryan nations preserved
not only their grammatical structure, and a large portion of their
dictionary, from the time which preceded their separation, but that they
likewise retained the names of some of their deities, some legends about
their gods, some popular sayings and proverbs, and in these, it may be,
the seeds of parables, as part of their common Aryan heirloom. Their
mythological lore fills, in fact, a period in the history of Aryan
thought, half-way between the period of language and the period of
literature, and it is this discovery which gives to mythology its
importance in the eyes of the student of the most ancient history and
psychology of mankind.

And do not suppose that the Greeks, or the Hindus, or the Aryan nations in
general, were the only people who possessed such tales. Wherever we look,
in every part of the world, among uncivilized as well as a civilized
people, we find the same kind of stories, the same traditions, the same
myths.

I shall give one story from the extreme North, another from the extreme
South.

Among the Esquimaux of Repulse Bay, on the west side of Hudson's Bay, on
the Arctic Circle, Mr. John Rae picked up the following story:--

"Many years ago, a great Esquimaux Conqueror gained so much power that he
was able to rise unto the heavens, taking with him on one occasion a
sister, a very beautiful girl, and some fire. He added much fuel to the
fire, and thus formed the Sun. For some time he and his sister lived in
great harmony, but after a time he became very cruel, and ill-treated his
sister in many ways. She bore it at first with great patience, until at
last he threw fire at her, and scorched one side of her face. This
spoiling of her beauty was beyond endurance; she therefore ran away from
him, and formed the Moon. Her brother then began, and still continues to
chase her; but although he sometimes got near, he has not yet overtaken
her, nor ever will.

"When it is New Moon, the burnt side of the face is towards us; at Full
Moon it is the reverse."

There are dialectic varieties in the Mythology of the Esquimaux as of the
Greeks a