one 8 THE STRUCTURE OF MYTH Couisearions AnD SOLEnONTTIES INCLUDE, AS WE HAVE SEEN, cern symbole setons tha are alo metaphost. Looking at myths, 6 Se chat they ate structured crowhout by such actions, We shall fous Sur atenton here on archaie eaychs—myths chat ae aot yet ‘Saamplicated by terry elaborasin—in ender to see more clearly how fnytha a sul, fueron i the meaaing life of man. The ety stages Ihe history of man show vs mote porey the partcaat sor of Findameptal expansion ofthe nd hat atsined through coh Tet ut Bega with the stony o€ Clever Hans. This bots was trained co fet ample questions of arithmetic. Namnbes on blackboard wwere sucesely posed f0, and the hosse gave corect answess by amping its foot wat the sight number was reached. Cesal Serer could find no fault io the hosse's performance until they (eds question to which hey themselves did noc know the ep. The howe then went on stamping may seasclesly. This led wo the ttesovery tha the howe had been able to stop athe sight poist previously because obserters had wnwitingly, by small gestures, Fgnaled to the hose thet expectation that he wow stop at chat point. Since he was rewarded when he stopped at these signals, rhe Feimal leaned to stop at thee signals. This shows how well animals ‘Bh tial and eve surpass man's nitive capacity to exablish regular ‘Se inducely- Animals ea also dearly members of a species, dat Js evablsh what functions asa conception of the species, Their reales in sleep indicates that they can dteam, This shows that they aleo possess imagination Ththe ce of man evolution has added co hese gifts the surpassing 129 ‘pws Saucony OF NTH m powers of language. Language makes thinking pose: cn wea Rind by language to “look before aod ster” Even so, some men Suv tats hedged io by det surtoundings, 2 animals ae, xd thet thoughts may amount only to ewer cleverness io mastering ‘hesesuroundings Laer we stallcome the question whee atcha dew about the nature of thingy are dhe rele of liferent, and ‘eaumably lowet, pnp of thinking, Fie lt vs gue ino the one of te itll ahieernent of the ache mine testing Smyth Tt anal forms the center ofthe ineactons which define ie surounding, and every species ha is owe alitinctive cele of Sortoundings, lo bis caste acount of man's upright poste, FEW. See wits chat tn upighe posure, the immediate contact with things is InostnelThehotzon widened, removed: the disance ‘comes momensou, of gree impor. “The diecon upward, agin gray, esrb into space deg we a ro ah th Taprewed by igh and low, ce and dedi, climbing and {ifn supers aod infenor,clewted and downea." “These upward and oarwatd-teaching imaginative capacities are only save ofthe conditions neces for cating myths. The conespeion of the woild as whole goce beyond this mere reaching for facher ‘observable objec. Ie frrmulates 3 dating speculation, transcending al! Shverable objec and extending the imagination fat beyond 30 possible experienced horizon ‘Some obseness of animal Behavior have mowed certain strange ‘beltavoe in animals chat would appeae tobe of the sore we would al Sapertitious” in man beeause ths behavior sems to be acquired. rot iestiotual, and ie does aot seem co be relevanc 10 the animal's ocesfa adaption, although thes 20 natural ot caus elation 1 ‘nat the anita seers tobe attempting to accomplish, che behaviors ‘lways performed anyhow, along vith behavior chats aarraistially ‘flcacins, Such erors xe seatered and. adveniious in. lower fimals, bot they appear tobe widespread and organized amoag mea, ‘They abound in achaie thought. The re of man appears to have een companied bya burst of imaginative pone which made him liable oa whale item of errs of which annals are eee. Any major meci Charre Birr loc even any mere sca function, that we may atibute wo he cteaion fF myths muse ako acknowledge the aequited capacity for this particular kind of eor: but let ut forthe moment tt aside the eco fnsalled by supersion. forthe inevitably raise the larger question thar we are postponing, amely, the question whether she intellectual ‘mechanism of atcha man was basically diferent om that af modkeen ct ws begin ou inguie into the nase of mgthas an atsinment of the human mi by drawing a parallel berween the cre of mythe and that of poet, when both ate understood as agencies for evoking ‘the imagination, Our inspection of the coateat of archaic eng will prepare the growad fora comparison between mythical elie and the ‘wold view of modem scence ro be treated later. ‘Oat guide fr che devription of archaic myths, and panty also fo heir religious ictepretation, willbe the work of Mixcea Eliade, For ouoboration fin eather sources we shall rely oa Ernst Case's Philsophy of Symbolic Forms (bat not on his Language and yb) and on Lucien Lévy-Brl’s How Natives Think Eliade sharply distinguishes myth-making fom other actives peculat to che archaic mind. We can accept this division inspite of the “These as ofeeation were performed dosing atime that is different foc that ia which ou lives ga by. This is che "ace upon a time, she "sated tine” of mythical events Asis generally adie tay, a myth san acount of rents ‘which took plce im princpvo. that i, “in the beginning,” ine primocdial and non-temporal insane, = moment of dazed tome. This mythic or sacred time is qualanvely dlifereat from profane time, from the ontiauols and ice venible time of our everyday, de-sacraled existence. In hataing 4 myth, one eoactaliss, in some set, the sted time ia which the evens nareated took place * ‘his sacred time ie renewed in ial tial abolishes profane, chronological Time and recovers the sacred Time of myth. Man becomes contemporary with the exploits thar the Gods performed in io empore’? [eis immponaneo nee that what involved is nota commemoration of mythical evens Duta reteratom of them-—s doing.again of what sratdone “once upd a time.” The protagenin ofthe myth ate mace present, One becomes their contemporary. This alo implies that one is no longs living in chronological time but in pmol time, the time when che even fist took place* He who recites o perfocms the exigin myth thetey seeped in the scted atmosphere in which thee mircaloes events ‘ook place. The mythia! time of origins is x stone” time ‘cate twas tansigured by the active creatine presence of124 ceapren Ber the Supesnatual Sings, By reciing the myths one exon Stats that falls time and hence in ome soxe becomes "ontemporaay" with he evens deveined ‘This dicincion is confirmed by Caster: ‘The ides of mana, like che negatirely coespoading idea of taboo, reptewnts 4 sphere distinct ffom and opposed «0 ‘lll ie of cosomary process «They... represent the harateitie seven high the magical-mythical consious reas places on objects [any objet) “Thigacent divides the whole of realy zad aedon into a rnythialy sigicane 20d mythiallyielevane sphere, into ‘ht arouses mythical inerest and wha Javes fe elavely Indifferent ---: the sated does not Simply ape [ihe pr ane, at progressively permeazar ic ‘The rca of a myth is an expesience that is detached from the