Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Note Most accented letters in this book are used to indicate pronunciation. They are usually used in the introductory matter at the beginning of each story, but not in the stories themselves. The notes at the end include lists of place names, some of which include characters with a breve (e.g. ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, Ĕ) or with breve and acute accent (e.g. ĕ́, ĭ́, ŭ́). If these characters do not display properly, you may wish to adjust your font settings. Bold text is indicated with equals signs, =like this=. CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE AMERICA IN RELATION TO _The Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind_ BY JEREMIAH CURTIN Author of "Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland," "Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars," "Hero-Tales of Ireland," etc. [Decoration] BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1898 _Copyright, 1898_ By Jeremiah Curtin _All rights reserved_ University Press John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. CURTIN'S WORKS ON FOLK-LORE AND MYTHS. Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland. Hero-Tales of Ireland. Irish Fairy Tales. Myths and Folk-Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars. Creation Myths of Primitive America. [Illustration: _Jeremiah Curtin in the Ruins of Palenque, Central America._] DEDICATION [Decoration] _To_ MAJOR J. W. POWELL, _Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, LL.D. of Harvard and Heidelberg:_ Sir,--You lost your right hand in fighting to save American unity; but though the hand went from you its cunning remained, with the power to plan and to execute. The same kind of impulse that sent you to the field of battle to serve the country and the world, sent you to the field of science to serve as a geologist and an explorer in the majestic region of the Colorado, and finally brought you to found the Bureau of Ethnology. Through your labors, combined with those of the men whom you have associated with you, the world has learned more of the great primitive race of our country than it learned from the discovery of the continent till the day when the Bureau was founded. I beg to inscribe this book to you as a mark of my respect and friendship. JEREMIAH CURTIN. Steamer "Germanic," on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean, _October 21, 1898_. CONTENTS [Decoration]