7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 1/31
The American Society for Ethnohistory
The Earth-Diver (Th. A 812)Author(s): Elli Kaija KöngäsReviewed work(s):Source: Ethnohistory, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring, 1960), pp. 151-180Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/480754 .
Accessed: 01/07/2012 14:51
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Duke University Press and The American Society for Ethnohistory are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Ethnohistory.
http://www.jstor.org
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 2/31
THE EARTH-DIVER (Th. A 812)
Elli Kaija K6ngas
Indiana University
Earth-Diver, Th. A 812, has been referred to as "the most
widely distributed of all North American Indian myths." 1 The
distribution of this myth extends far beyond North America,however. As the German folklorist Will-Erich Peuckert ob-
serves, Earth-Diver occurs not only in native North America
and in part of native South America, but also in the Pacific Is-
lands, Australia, and in eastern Europe. Its most westerly
distribution in Europe, Peuckert points out, is among certain
groups in East Prussia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia,
and Slovakia; there are also numerous Finnish variants.2
This wide distribution of Earth-Diver has often been dis-
cussed. Later in this paper some interpretations of the myth's
dissemination will be briefly reviewed. Earlier scholars were
inclined to treat versions from different culture areas as par-
allelisms. Yet the versions show striking similarities both in
essential and secondary traits. The essence of the myth seems
always the same, notwithstanding geographical and cultural
distances; even small details correspond in different areas,
and the distribution, although wide, is continuous. Observa-
tions like these make the investigator doubt the probability
of parallelism.
Various problems arise from the study of Earth-Diver:
problems relating to its origin and diffusion, to the noticeable
influence of "book religions" in some of its subtypes, to the
'function" of the myth and its connection with rites. Such
151
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 3/31
152 Ethnohistory
topics as these, however, will not be treated herein; I will
only try to point out the traits of the myth, briefly review
the long discussion about it, and offer a possible explanation
of the primary development of Earth-Diver.
Earth-Diver in North America
The Traits of the Myth. The essence of the Earth-Diver
myth in North America has been described thus:
In North American Indian myths of the originof the world, the culture hero has a succession of
animals dive into the primeval waters, or flood of
waters, to secure bits of mud or sand from which
the earth is to be formed. Various animals, birds,and aquatic creatures are sent down into the waters
that cover the earth. One after another animal
fails; the last one succeeds, however, and floats
to the surface, half dead, with a little sand or dirt
in his claws. Sometimes it is Muskrat, sometimes
Beaver, Hell-diver, Crawfish, Mink who succeeds,after various other animals have failed, in bring-
ing up the tiny bit of mud which is then put on the
surface of the water and magically expands to be-
come the world of the present time. 3
Some variants will be given in extenso to illustrate how
the myth is told. In a Shoshone Indian variant the story goes:
The whole earth was covered with water.Onlyon a high mountain there was a dry spot. Our
Father sent the Crow to get earth in order to make
land. Then the Crow came back stinking. 'You
are crazy,' said the Father; 'you have eaten the
drowned people. Now, go back, and go around
homeless. You will eat whatever any one has
killed. Go, now! You will be black.' Then he
said to the small birds, 'Come, I will now hear
which one of you has a good heart and good sense.'
He found that the Chickadee was the only one that
had any sense and was good-hearted. Then hebade it bring earth. It brought it. Our Father
made the earth out of it. 'It will be small,' he
said, 'for little hands brought it. You will have
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 4/31
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 5/31
154 Ethnohi story
egg (Th. A 641). An interesting detail is the notion that the
birds became weary of solitude; this is a basic situation in
various creation myths. 8
Primeval water is a feature of both the Shoshone and
Yokuts variants above. It also appears in a Cheyenne var-
iant telling how a person floated on water which covered the
whole earth. Water birds - swans, geese, ducks, and
other birds that swim - already existed and were all about
the person. He called to some of these birds and asked
them to look for some earth. The birds said that they would
dive and see if they could find earth at the bottom of the
water. Larger birds dived and came up without anything
for they could not reach the bottom, but there was one small
duck that returned with some mud in its bill. This duck
swam to the man and put the mud in his hand. The man
took the wet earth and worked it with his fingers until it
was dry. They he sprinkled it over the water - made
little piles of it on the water - and it formed land and
grew and spread until as far as he could see all was solid
land. Thus the dry land - the earth - was created.9
Coyote as creator and primeval water appear in the
following Crow variant:
The earth was all covered with water. Old-Man Coyote alone was going around on the water.Then a little coyote met him. 'I am alone, I am
looking for a companion, I'll meet one,' he said.Then they met. There was no living thing then.
They went around together. 'We are alone, it is
bad; let us make the earth.' 'All right, how shallwe make it?' After some time ducks came flying.'You dear younger brothers, dive here,' he said.
'How shall we do it?' 'Dive into the water, bringearth, we'll make the world,' he said. Theybrought some. 'Is there any?' 'Yes.' 'Go, bringsome.' Four times they brought some, he took itand made the earth ... 10
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 6/31
Earth-Diver 155
Instead of primeval water we have the deluge in a
Sarcee Indian variant:
Once on a time two young men from abovevisited the people of the earth. Two sisters,
daughters of a chief, fell in love with the youngmen and wanted to marry them, but the people de-
sired that the sisters marry two bright stars above,which they refused to do; so the two young men
were murdered by the people, which vexed the
Creator, and to punish the people of the earth he
caused the water to rise and to drown all of them,save one old man, who saved himself by buildinga raft, on which he gathered all the animals and
birds.
After many days, when the water had risen
very high, the old man became lonesome and wanted
to see land again, so he sent various diving animalsdown in the water to bring up some earth from the
bottom, but as each rose to the surface the old
man saw that they were drowned. He examined
the paws of each to see if they had any earth, but
he found none until he came to the last animal that
had been sent down. This was a muskrat, in whose
paws was some earth which the old man took andrubbed between his hands, then blew up to increaseits size; and after it had increased to such an ex-tent that when the ringed-neck plover was sentaround it and returned old and tired, and did notwish to be sent again, the old man was satisfiedwith the size of the world; so he then began to
make rivers, to plant trees, and to distribute theanimals he had saved. 1
The deluge motif here seems Biblical: a raft is built,
and animals are gathered to be saved.
The diving animals are drowned or almost die when
they return to the surface of the water, in many North
American Indian variants. The measuring of the grown
earth appears in the deluge story of the Bible. However,
it could be an independently-invented trait; e. g., the Cree-
Ojibwa tell about the measuring of the new earth by a wolf. 12
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 7/31
156 Ethnohistory
The myth necessarily always begins with the water. It
is hard to tell which is more common, primeval water or
the deluge, 13 but there is good reason to suppose that pri-
meval water is the original trait. 14 The beings who exist
are sometimes only animals. 15 Manibozho, 16(var., Nani-
bozhu,17 Wa'n-lbozhil 8) is the culture hero in many Algon-
quian versions of the myth; it is he who organizes the div-
ing for earth. 19 Other named beings occur in other versions;
for example, Siina'wavi in Shoshonean variants 20 and Wesa-
kaychak in Cree variants. 21 In the variants quoted above,
four different types of locale in which these beings were on
the water occur; a mountain, a tree, a raft, and - partic-
ularly when the first beings are ornithomorphic - merely
the surface of the water. The diver is often Muskrat, alone;
he may dive several times. When a series of divers is
presented, the animals are, e. g., a raven, an otter, and a
muskrat; 22 a kingfisher, a duck, and a turtle;23 swans,
geese, ducks, and other birds that swim. 24 The last of
these series shows how easily the divers can be changed;
the essential point is that the diver must be able to dive.
Wilhelm Schmidt in his monumental work, Der Ursprung der
Gottesidee, emphasizes the importance of the turtle as the
earth-diver: he gives examples from Maidu, 25 Wintun, 26
and Yokuts 27 traditions. He also presents many other Cali-
fornia variants in which the duck successfully dives for
earth. In most of these versions of Earth-Diver the creator
is ornithomorphic: he is the eagle or the hawk. 28 This is
extremely interesting, for in several Asian, and even Euro-
pean, e. g., Finnish variants, there is only one earth-diver,
a duck, and the creator also appears in the form of a bird.
Could some of the California versions represent the oldest
American variants ?
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 8/31
Earth-Diver 157
The number of animal-divers, and the number of times
one or several of them may dive varies, but it is always the
last attempt that is the successful one. Even though the last
animal dies while diving, a handful of earth is taken from
its feet, 29 or a little sand is found under its fingernails.30
The earth or sand is placed on a raft, increases in size,
and becomes a new earth. 31 In Wyandot versions the earth
may be rubbed on the edges of the Big Turtle's shell; "And
from this small amount soon there was the Great Island
upon the Big Turtle's back." 3 Some variants tell that a
ball is made from the mud by the creator; then he blows
upon it, 'whereupon it seemed to grow rapidly.'33 In a
Carrier myth the earth is kneaded together to form an
island and finally the world as it is today.34
Here, again,
we have a trait which also appears in East European vari-
ants. 3
The Distribution of the Myth. It is more illuminating
to mention those areas in North America in which Earth-
Diver does not appear, than to list those in which it does.
As the American anthropologist Earl W. Count states, the
myth 'covers most of North America, excepting the Eskimo,
the Northwest Pacific coast, the Southwest and most of theSoutheast [areas]." 36 It is told "from California through
the Great Basin, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands to the
Atlantic Coast." 37 Of all the North American areas in
which Earth-Diver appears, the California one is the most
interesting: here more examples have been recorded than
elsewhere in North America, and often the variants are
rather similar to the Eurasiatic ones. Probably there is
no definite split between the two continents. Count has
recently stressed this point. He writes:
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 9/31
158 Ethnohistory
North American mythology cannot ever be under-
stood in terms confined to this continent alone, be-
cause much of it is a part of a larger area which
includes so much of Eurasia; and the cultural tide
has been prevailingly from west to east - Eurasia
the donor, North America the recipient. 38
Count also comments that most American scholars have been
unaware that Earth-Diver occurs elsewhere than on the North
American continent, and that European scholars also have
overlooked its total distribution.
39
This is partly true, butthe history of Earth-Diver studies shows how the Eurasiatic-
American problem occasionally emerges.
Earth-Diver in Eurasia
The Traits of the Myth. In the Eurasian area many
traits of the Earth-Diver myth show a striking similarity
to North American traits. The following Yenisei Ostyak
variant resembles the Cheyenne variant previously noted:
In the beginning, water flowed everywhere, and Doh,
the great shaman, was gliding above the waters, accom-
panied by swans, red-throated divers, loons, and other
water birds. When he could find no place to rest, he asked
the red-throated diver to dive into the water and bring a
bit of earth from the bottom of the sea. The bird tried
twice, but only on the third attempt did he succeed in bring-
ing up any earth. From the earth the red-throated diver
brought up under his bill, Doh made an island in the sea.40
This Yenesei Ostyak variant, which opens with many
water birds accompanying the culture hero, begins like
several North American variants. Such an opening, how-
ever, is not usual in Eurasia, where only one bird, a div-
ing bird,41 a duck,42 a swan,43 or a swallow44 appears,
and is said to be the devil in disguise.45 Of course, the
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 10/31
Earth-Diver 159
group of birds may not be an original trait, although it ap-
pears on two continents. Nevertheless comparison of the
American and Eurasiatic traditions shows that one water
bird, at least, was original in the myth.
Both the creator and his helper appear in ornithomor-
phic form in the following Yezids variant, which details the
creation of a reflection-helper.
In the beginning the world was an ocean, in the midst of
which was a tree created by divine power. God lived in this
tree in the form of a bird, for many centuries.
After that, the Lord created from his own reflection the
Archangel Gabriel, also in the form of a bird, and placed
him beside himself on the tree. After a little while he
asked him, "Who are you and who am I ?" Gabriel answered,
"You are you, and I am I." With this proud answer the arch-
angel wished God to understand that each of them had a
special importance and that he, Gabriel, could consider
himself the peer of his creator. When the Lord heard Gab-
riel's answer he became angry and pecked the archangel
and drove him from the tree. 46
The two birds and the tree in the midst of the ocean are
traits which also appear in the California Yokuts version of
the myth. The Yokuts tell that these birds became weary
of solitude; in the Yezids variant, something of the same
atmosphere can be found, e. g., "for many centuries...."
In a Russian version the two birds are a white and a
black duck; the black duck which is the devil, brings earth,
and the white duck then forms the earth. 47 The variant is
interesting not only because there are two birds, but be-
cause these birds are described in color terms: in the be-
ginning, there were the "black and white" elements of the
world. All the East European and Northern Asian variants
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 11/31
160 Ethnohistory
show this strong and seemingly Christian dualism. The
name of the earth diver is Satan, or Satanail, even when he
appears as a bird. Mikhailo Dragomanov, Ukrainian
academician who wrote a distinguished study of dualistic
creation myths, gives interesting variants which represent
the early ornithomorphic persons as Christianized; these
tales are transcripts of an apocryphal text titled, 'About
the Tiberian Sea."
In the beginning, according to this text, there was no
heaven or earth, but only a Tiberian sea with no shores to
it in which the Lord and a goldeneye were swimming. The
goldeneye was Satanail, and the text tells how the Lord
asked him,
"Who are you?"
"I am (a) God."
"And who am I ?
"Thou art God of God(s)."
God said again: "Whence art you ?"
The bird answered, 'Ego ex infimis."
And the Lord said, 'And whence am I?"
The bird answered, 'De superis."
And the Lord said, 'Da mihi ex infimis."
And the bird dived into the sea .... 48
In this text the dualism does not appear very distinctly,
but it is emphasized in numerous variants. These latter
tell how the devil saved a bit of earth in his mouth; when
God expanded the earth, the stolen bit grew in the mouth
of the devil and, as he spat it out, mountains formed.49
The devil not only helped God, but also spoiled his creation.
A Finnish variant, typically enough, describes how the
devil caused the uneven formations on the earth, spitting
his mouthful of earth toward the significant direction of north.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 12/31
Earth-Diver 161
In the beginning when the earth did not exist,God was on a
golden pillarin the middle of the sea.
As he saw his image there, he said, 'Arise what-
ever you are!' He arose, and it was the devil.Then God asked: 'How could the earth come into
being?' The devil said, 'It will come, if one dives
for earth into the bottom of the sea, three times.'God asked him to dive, and the devil did so, but
on the third time, stole a little earth and hid it in
his mouth. Then, God moulded that bit of earth
with his hands, and the earth grew. And the earthin the mouth of the devil grew, and, at the same
time, his pain grew. He came to tell God that hestole earth, and it caused pain. Well, God then
took the earth from the mouth of the devil, and
threw it to the North; it became stones and rocks. 50
The following Bulgarian variant represents the Christian-
ized type of the myth rather well.
At first there was no earth and people. Every-where was water. There were only the Lord and
the devil, who at that time lived together.
Once the Lord said to the devil:
' Let us make the earth and people.'
'Let us do so,' answered the devil, 'but where
shall we get dirt?'
'There is dirt under the water,' said the Lord.
'Go down and get some.'
'All right,' answered the devil.'But before you go down,' said the Lord to the
devil, 'Say: With God's power and mine ! Then youwill reach the bottom and find dirt.'
The devil went down, but he did not say first,'With God's power and mine!' but: 'With my pow-er and God's power.' Therefore he did not reach bot-
tom. The second time he did the same and again he
did not reach bottom. Finally the third time he said,'With God's power and mine !' And then he reached
bottom and with his nails he grasped a little dirt.
That dirt the Lord put on the water and it be-
came a little earth.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 13/31
162 Ethnohistory
When the devil saw that, he thought up this
pieceof deceit: he
proposedthat
they sleep; then,when the Lord had fallen asleep, he would push him
into the water, and thus he (the devil) would be left
alone, and he could take credit for having made the
earth. The Lord knew this, but he lay down and
pretended to sleep. Then the devil gets up, takes
the Lord in his hands, and starts for the water, to
throw him in. He walks towards the water, but theearth grows. As he did not reach the water, he
turned in the other direction, but again he did notreach the water. Then he turned in the third direc-
tion and when he again did not reach the water, he
put the Lord down and lay down also. When he had
slept a bit, it occurred to him that there was stilla fourth direction. He picked up the Lord and car-ried him toward the water, but still he could notreach it.
Then the devil rouses the Lord, 'Get up, Lord,let us bless the earth! Look how it has grown whilewe were sleeping!'
'When you were carrying me in all four direc-tions, to throw me into the water, and made a crosswith me, I blessed the earth,' said the Lord.
The devil got mad at this, left the Lord andran away from him. 51
To summarize briefly, the Earth-Diver of Eurasia is
rather Christianized: God and the devil tend to be substi-
tuted for the two animals, or, more often, for the culture
hero-creator and his helper-animal. This, of course,
changes the whole atmosphere of the myth: quarrels between
God and the devil take place; all kinds of harm is done by
the devil, who wants to have a portion of the earth, or credit
for having created it. In this connection, it may be said
that an entire East-European and Asiatic myth cycle involv-
ing the creation of certain members of the animal kingdom,
develops from the Eurasiatic version of Earth-Diver. S2
The Distribution of the Myth. The area of dissemina-
tion of Earth-Diver in Eurasia is, again, a very wide one:
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 14/31
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 15/31
164 Ethnohistory
the primary appearance of the bird-divers, and the effects
of the 'heightening" influence of book-religions.
Discussion
Alexander Veselovski, a Russian scholar who wrote
two studies of the dualistic myths, was aware of Earth-
Diver's American variants, although his main concern was
with the distribution and origin of Eurasiatic versions. 55
He shared the opinion of the Finnish folklorist Julius Krohn
that the base of these stories had been elaborated by the
Finno-Magyar or Ural-Altaic tribes;56 he also admitted
that Gnosticism had influenced "these Finnic legends" as
they traveled toward the Slavs. He saw some similarity
between North American Indian and Slavic legends, but was
not inclined to see any primary connection between them. 57
Following Veselovski, Dragomanov definitely stated: 'these
traditions must be placed in the category of completely in-
dependent tales." 58
Dragomanov had a thorough knowledge of the medieval
Gnostic sects. We can say that he proved the thesis that
the 'Christian" character of the tales is due to the influence
of these sects, which, in their turn, were modified by Irano-
Chaldean religions. 59 His thesis was then accepted by
Oskar Dihnhardt, who compiled an outstanding collection of
the variants. 60 We must here stress the point that the in-
fluence of the book religions is a secondary development
and has nothing to do with the original myth, however obvious
such influence is in the late recordings.
The American anthropologist Robert H. Lowie was con-
cerned with the probable genetic connection of the North
American and Eurasian variants and noted that if they really
were variants of the same myth, the distribution of this
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 16/31
Earth- Diver 165
myth would be enormous. He treated Earth-Diver as part
of the deluge story. 61
Walter Anderson, the Estonian folklorist, showed that
the deluge was secondary and primeval water original. 62
Uno Harva, who thoroughly discussed a great number of the
variants, saw the connection between the American and
Eurasian myths, but doubted the dualistic character of the
latter; he posed the question whether it could be possible
that the medieval Bogomil creation story had traveled so
far. Independently, Harva suggested that the devil was a
late substitution for the original bird. 63
In the 1920's and 1930's several studies relating to
Earth-Diver were published. The American anthropologist
Gladys Reichard summarized the North American Indian
variants of the myth in 1923;64 a doctoral thesis was written
in California; 65 and two European scholars dealt with the
theme from the non-American point of view. 66 Count's
thesis emphasizes the intercontinental connections of the
myths. He was not the first to do so; Schmidt had listed
similar traits in Algonkian and Yurak Samoyed myths.67
One could say that all these scholars attempted to develop
a synthesis of the history and distribution of the myth.
How difficult this task is, is indicated in a statement of
Count's in 1952:
I have assembled from the literature about 230
specimens of the tale. Their scrutiny quicklybroadens into a far greater study, one of a com-
parative mythology as yet scarcely touched. This
study awaits the combined efforts of a host ofscholars who would view the mythological systems
of northern Eurasia and of North America simul-taneously and comprehensively, noting the simi-larities and differences of total pattern, and relatethe mythopoea to the social processes and religiousand political evolution of the peoples of these two
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 17/31
166 Ethnohistory
continents. This study would work from the hypoth-esis that mythology is the cultural philosophy of the
folk, expressed symbolically and pragmatically,and therefore it is an integral part of their culture. 68
The last of these thoughts - that mythology is a cultur-
al philosophy - is highly debatable, but I agree that myths
are an integral part of a culture. I would express the thought
in a slightly different way: studying Earth-Diver we learn
how myths, when they are accepted, become integrated and
modified according to conceptions which already exist, or,
later, according to changes which are introduced by other
religious systems.
Conclusions
The Earth-Diver myth has a world-wide distribution.
It is told in various forms, but it always has four invariable
traits - earth covered with water, the creator, the diver,
and the making of the earth.
Wherever it occurs, the myth has been acculturated;
the creator is God for the Christianized peoples, Manibozho
for the Algonquians, Doh, the great shaman for the Ostyaks.
Such variation holds in regard to all of the traits; to discuss
the variations would be anhistorical-geographical problem.
At present, however, I am concerned with another kind
of problem.
In the Yezids variant, 'the Lord created from his own
reflection the Archangel Gabriel, also in the form of a
bird." In the Finnish variants the Earth-Diver, that is the
devil, has his origin in the reflected image of God on the
water.
69
All over the area of dissemination the earth-diverappears either as an animal, or as having formerly been
an animal: there is, for example, a clear development
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 18/31
Earth-Diver 167
from a bird to bird-Satanail, and finally to Satan, the
devil.
Let us forget the reflection-helper for a while, and
think of the animal as the constant factor. Which animal
then - the muskrat, the turtle, the duck? The duck is
mentioned all over the area where the myth is known.
I would like to suggest an interpretation, which has
not appeared in the many studies of the Earth-Diver myth.
First we have the creator, alone. Then we have the creator
and a bird or some other being who is with him, or whom
he summons to help him when he sees his image in the water.
What does this indicate?
There is an old and wide-spread notion of something
which is with a person even when he is alone. This some-
thing is the soul, or spirit. The soul can take the form of
an animal, mostly the form of a bird; actually the term
"bird soul," Seelenvogel, is the terminus technicus for the
wandering soul in folklore literature. The distribution of
this concept is widespread;70 it is especially prevalent in
the Arctic area where shamanistic practice presupposes
the concept - where the shaman sends his soul away to
fulfil difficult tasks. As the German scholar Ad. E. Jensen
states,
wherever shamanistic practice is found, it is inconnection with this dualistic world-concept, as a
part of the characteristic capacities of the shaman,that his soul is able to leave his body. 71
The bird soul, for example, can move independently of the
owner's body, fulfil tasks which are not possible for the
person himself, wander over seas, and visit the other world.
Could we not think that the helpful animal in the Earth-Diver
is the bird soul of the creator? In shamanistic terms, the
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 19/31
168 Ethnohi story
soul is the helping- spirit. In the Earth-Diver myth the cre-
ator needs earth: he sends his spirit helper to fulfil the dif-
ficult task.
The variations in form of the spirit-helper are numerous:
the diver appears in many shapes, and there are even several
divers in a single variant. This, naturally, is not in accord
with my explanation, but the important point is that there are
variants which do accord with it, and that these variants were
collected in different parts of the whole area of distribution.
We cannot expect that the original meaning of the myth sur-
vived the changes it suffered when traveling from one culture
to another. A myth is a narrative, and the Earth-Diver myth
has had the common history of a narrative, undergoing change
after change.
Scholars have stressed the fact that religious dualism is
not original in the myth. I agree with this, for good reason:
the dualistic 'disguise" is a late development, with roots in
medieval Christian doctrines, as Dragomanov and others
have shown. I suggest another kind of dualism for the inter-
pretation of Earth-Diver: psycho-physical dualism, the con-
cept of the soul being separable from the body.
The notion that the helper was originally the reflection
of the creator on the water is an additional proof of such a
dualism; also the reflected image is a form of the soul. 72
That is why it is believed that a person can lose his soul
looking in a mirror, or into water. Thus, when the first
being on primeval water saw his image and summoned it to
help, he "became aware of himself," as one variant beauti-
fully states.
A very familiar parallel illustrates my interpretation.
We all remember the beginning of the creation story of the
Bible: the spirit of God moved upon the primeval water. I
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 20/31
Earth- Diver 169
do not mean to suggest genetic identity, but I cannot help
seeing a similar notion in the Earth-Diver myth. The helper
of the creator was not the Devil; it was not any occasional
animal, but a very definite kind of animal - "the spirit of
the god," the soul of the creator.
Notes
1.Wheeler-Voegelin, Creation,
vol.1, p.
260.
2. Peuckert, Sch6pfung, vol. 9, p. 279; Haavio, Uber
orientalische Legenden; Folklore Archives of the Finnish
Literature Society (Helsinki).
3. Wheeler-Voegelin, Earth Diver, vol. 1, p. 334.
4. St. Clair and Lowie, Shoshone and Comanche Tales,
vol. 22, p. 273.
5. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, pp. 59-60.
6. Dragomanov, Notes, pp. 13-14; Count, The Earth
Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 58; Harva, Altain suvun
uskonto, pp. 62-67.
7. Haavio, Suomalaisen muinaisrunouden maailma,
pp. 244- 245.
8. See Th. A 73, Lonely creator.
9. Grinnell, Some Early Cheyenne Tales, vol. 20,
p. 170.
10. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 60.
11. Simrnms, Traditions of the Sarcee Indians, vol. 17,
pp. 180- 181.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 21/31
170 Ethnohistory
12. Dixon, Mythology of Central and Eastern Algonquians,
vol. 22, p. 7.
13. Reichard, Literary Types, vol. 34, p. 274 presents
about an equal number of each.
14. Anderson, Nordasiatische Flutsagen, pp. 756-757.
15. Jenness, Myths of the Carrier Indians, vol. 48,
p. 143; Gifford, Western Mono Myths, vol. 36, pp. 305-306;
Swindlehurst, Folk-Lore of the Cree Indians, vol. 18, pp. 139ff.
16. Sykes, Dictionary, p. 7.
17. Chamberlain, Nanibozhu, vol. 4, p. 193.
18. Chamberlain, Tales of the Missisaguas, vol. 3,
p. 150.
19. See e. g., Sykes, Dictionary, p. 7.
20. Lowie, Shoshonean Tales, vol. 37, pp. 1-4.
21. Ahenakew, Cree Trickster Tales, vol. 42, p. 326.
22. Sykes, Dictionary, p. 7.
23. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, vol. 2,pp. 292-293.
24. Grinnell, Some Early Cheyenne Tales, vol. 20,
p. 170.
25. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, vol. 2,
pp. 109-111, 138-139, 178, 845.
26. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 249, 258, 845.
27. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 275-277, 850.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 22/31
Earth- Diver 171
28. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 274, 277 (Yokuts); pp. 288-289
(Salinan); p. 312.
29. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 688-689.
30. Rogers and Gayton, Twenty-seven Chukchansi Yokuts
Myths, vol. 57, p. 192; Gifford, Western Mono Myths,
vol. 36, pp. 305-306.
31. Potts, Creation Myth, vol. 5, p. 73.
32. Connelley, Notes, vol. 12, p. 122.
33. Ahenakew, Cree Trickster Tales, vol. 42, pp. 326-327.
34. Jenness, Myths of the Carrier Indians, vol. 48, p. 43.
35. Cf. Kuusi, Suomalaisen luornistarun jainteiti, p. 63
(Finnish: God kneads the earth from the mud which thedevil had dived for and brought up from the bottom of the
sea.)
36. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 55.
37. Wheeler-Voegelin, Creation, vol. 1, p. 260.
38. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 62.
39. Ibid., p. 55.
40. K6ngis, Luoja ja vasta-luoja, p. 11.
41. E. g., Russian and Vogul variants: Walk, Die Ver-
breitung des Tauchmotivs, pp. 66, 70.
42. Russian, Mountain Cheremis,Vogul:
Walk, ibid.,
pp. 66-75.
43. Russian and Lebed-Tatar: Walk, ibid., pp. 66, 72.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 23/31
172 Ethnohistory
44. Yakut: Walk, ibid., p. 72.
45. An essential trait in Eurasia. See among others
Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, pp. 58-59;
Haavio, TUber orientalische Legenden; Dragomanov, Notes.
46. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 59.
47. Walk, Die Verbreitung des Tauchmotivs, pp. 66-67.
48. Dragomanov, Notes, pp. 89-93.
49. Peuckert, Schopfung, p. 280; Dihnhardt, Natursagen,
pt. 1, pp. 1-89; Kuusi, Suomalaisen luomistarun jaanteita,
p. 63; Haavio, IUber orientalische Legenden, pp. 12-13;
Walk, Die Verbreitung des Tauchrnotivs, p. 69.
50. Mustakallio, Ms. No. 72.
51. Dragomanov, Notes, pp. 1-3.
52. K6ngas, Luoja ja vasta-luoja, deals with this cycle.
See, initially, Th. A 1750, and Dahnhardt, vol. 1.
53. Peuckert, Sch6pfung, p. 279.
54. Dragomanov, Notes, p. 110.
55. See Harva, Altain suvun uskonto, and Dragomanov,
Notes.
56. Krohn, Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden historia, vol. 1.
57. Dragomanov, Notes, pp. 18-20.
58. Ibid., p. 23.
59. Ibid., p. 112.
60. D'ihnhardt, Natursagen, pt. 1, pp. 1-89.
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 24/31
Earth-Diver 173
61. Lowie, Zur Verbreitung der Flutsagen, pp. 615-616.
62. Anderson, Nordasiatische Flutsagen.
63. Harva, Altain suvun uskonto, pp. 73-74.
64. Reichard, Literary Types.
65. Count, The Earth-Diver: An Attempt at an Asiatic-
American Correlation.
66. Walk, Die Verbreitung des Tauchmotivs; Harva,
Altain suvun uskonto; Harva, Siberian Mythology.
67. Schmidt, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee, vol. 3, p. 353.
68. Count, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins, p. 55.
69. Haavio, Uber orientalischeLegenden,
vol. 2,p.
12;
Suomalaisen muinaisrunouden maailma, pp. 244-245.
70. See, for example, Frazer, The Golden Bough, pt. 2,
pp. 33-36; Haavio, Der Seelenvogel, vol. 8, pp. 61-81.
Haavio gives a rich number of references on pp. 230-232.
71. Jensen, Mythos, p. 301.
72. Frazer, The Golden Bough, pt. 2, pp. 77-100.Hultkrantz, Conceptions of the Soul, pp. 302-316, discusses
the reflection-soul and gives references.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aarne, Antti, Estnische Marchen- und Sagenvarianten (Folk-lore Fellows Communications, No. 25. Hamina, 1918)
, Verzeichnis der Finnischen Ursprungssagenund ihrer Varianten (Folklore Fellows Communications,
No. 8. Hamina, 1912)
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 25/31
174 Ethnohistory
Ahenakew, E., Cree Trickster Tales (Journal of American
Folklore, vol. 42, pp. 309-353, 1929)
Anderson, Walter, Nordasiatische Flutsagen (Dorpat, 1923)
Andree, R., Die Flutsagen (Braunschweig, 1891)
Balys, Jonas, Motif-Index of Lithuanian Narrative Folklore
(Tautosakos Darbai, No. 2. Kaunas, 1936)
Birket-Smith, Kaj, Die Eskimos (Zurich, 1948)
Boas, Franz, Dissemination of Tales among the Natives of
North America (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 4,
pp. 13-20, 1891)
Borst, Arno, Die Katharer (Monumenta Germaniae Historica,vol. 12. Stuttgart, 1953)
Carson, W., Ojibwa Tales (Journal of American Folklore,
vol. 30, pp. 491-493, 1917)
Casartelli, Louis Charles, Dualism (Iranian) (in James
Hastings, ed., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics,
vol. 5. New York, 1955)
Chamberlain, A. F., Tales of the Missisaguas (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 2, pp. 141-147; vol. 3, pp. 149-
154, 1888, 1889)
, Nanibozhu amongst the Otchipwe,
Missisagas, and Other Algonkian Tribes (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 4, pp. 193-213, 1891)
Connelley, William E., Notes on the Folk-Lore of the
Wyandots (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 12,
pp. 116-125, 1899)
Count, Earl W., The Earth-diver: An Attempt at an
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 26/31
Earth-Diver 175
Asiatic-American Correlation (Ph. D. dissertation,
University of California at Berkeley, 1935)
, The Earth Diver and the Rival Twins: A
Clue to Time Correlation in North-Eurasiatic and North
American Mythology (Proceedings of the 19th Interna-
tional Congress of Americanists. Chicago, 1952)
Dihnhardt, Oskar, Natursagen (4 vols. Leipzig, 1907- 1912)
Dixon, Roland B., The Mythology of the Central and Eastern
Algonkins (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 22,
pp. 1-9, 1909)
Dorsey, J. Owen, Nanibozhu in Siouan Mythology (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 5, pp. 293-304, 1892)
Dragomanov, Mikhailo, Notes on the Slavic Religio-Ethical
Legends: the Dualistic Creation of the World (MS.,before 1895. Translated by Earl W. Count)
Frazer, J. G., The Golden Bough (Pt. 2. Taboo and the
Perils of the Soul. London, 1914)
, Folk-lore in the Old Testament (vol. 1.
London, 1919)
Gerland, Georg, Der Mythus von der Siindflut (Bonn, 1912)
Gifford, Edward Winslow, Western Mono Myths (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 36, pp. 301-367, 1923)
Grinnell, George Bird, Pawnee Mythology (Journal of Amer-
ican Folklore, vol. 6, pp. 113-130, 1893)
, Some Early Cheyenne Tales(Journalof American Folklore, vol. 20, pp. 169-194, 1907)
Hale, Horatio, Huron Folk-Lore (Journal of American Folk-
lore, vol. 1, pp. 177-183, 1888)
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 27/31
176 Ethnohi story
Haavio, Martti, Suomalaisen muinaisrunouden maailma.
Helsinki, 1935
, 'ber orientalische Legenden und Mythen in
Grenz-Karelien und Aunus (Studia Fennica, vol. 2,
pp. 1-53. Helsinki, 1936)
, Der Seelenvogel (Studia Fennica, vol. 8,
pp. 61-81. Porvoo, 1959)
Harva, Uno, Altain suvun uskonto (Helsinki, 1933)
Harva (Holmberg), Uno, Siberian Mythology (in H. B. Alex-
ander, ed., Mythology of All Races, vol. 4. Boston, 1927)
Hatt, Gudmund, Asiatic Inlfuences in American Folklore
(Det Kgl. Danske Videnskaberns Selskab Historisk-
filologiske Meddelelser, vol. 31, no. 6. Kqjbenhavn,
1949)
Herrmann, A., Die Flutsagen der finnish-ugrischen V61ker
(Globus, vol. 60, 1893)
Holmberg, see Harva
Hultkrantz, Ake, Conceptions of the Soul among North Amer-
ican Indians (Ethnological Museum of Sweden, Mono-
graph Series, Publication No. 1. Stockholm, 1953)
Jenness, Diamond, Myths of the Carrier Indians of British
Columbia (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 48,
pp. 97-257, 1934)
Jensen, Ad. E., Mythos und Kult bei Naturv6lkern (Wiesbaden,
1951)
Jones, William, Episodes in the Culture-Hero Myth of the
Sauks and Foxes (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 24,
pp. 225-239, 1901)
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 28/31
Earth-Diver 177
Karjalainen, K. F., Die Religionen der Jugra-V6lker (Folk-
lore Fellows Communications, nos. 41, 44, 63. Hel-sinki, 1921, 1922, 1927)
Kongis, Elli Kaija, Luoja ja vasta-luoja suomalaisissa
elaintensyntymyyteissa [Dualistic Creation of Animals]
(M. A. thesis. Helsinki University, 1952. The Folk-
lore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki)
Krohn, Julius, Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden historia, vol. 1,
Kalevala (Helsinki, 1883)
Kuusi, Matti, Suomalaisen luomistarun jianteita (Kalevala-
seuran Vuosikirja, vol. 39, pp. 43-72. Helsinki, 1959)
Lehtisalo, T., Entwurf einer Mythologie der Jurak-Samojeden
(Memoires de la Societe Finno-Ougrienne, pt. 53. Hel-
sinki, 1924)
Loorits, Oskar, Contributions to the Material Concerning
Baltic-Byzantine Cultural Relations (Folk-Lore, vol. 45,
pp. 47-73. London, 1934)
, Grundzige des Estnischen Volksglaubens
Lund, 1949)
Lowie, Robert H., Shoshonean Tales (Journal of American
Folklore, vol. 37, pp. 1-191, 1924)
, Zur Verbreitung der Flutsagen (Anthropos,
vol. 21, pp. 615-616. Wien, 1926)
Meeker, Louis L., Siouan Mythological Tales (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 14, pp. 161-164, 1901)
Mustakallio, J. Ms. No. 72 (Folklore Archives of the Fin-
nish Literature Society. Collected in Vuokinsalmi,
1880. Informant: Aapeli Vayrynen)
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 29/31
178 Ethnohistory
Noth, Ernst, Weltanfang und Weltende in der deutschen
Volkssage (Frankfurt a. M., 1932)
Peuckert, Will-Erich, Schopfung (in E. Hoffmann-Krayerand Bachtold-Staubli, eds., Handw6rterbuch des
deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. 9, Appendix, cols. 274-285.
Berlin, 1941)
Potts, William John, Creation Myth of California Indians
(Journal of American Folklore, vol. 5, pp. 73-74, 1892)
Radin, Paul and A. B. Reagon, Ojibwa Myths and Tales
(Journal of American Folklore, vol. 41, pp. 61-146,
1928)
Ralston, W. R. S., Russian Folktales (London, 1873)
Reagon, Albert B., The Flood Myth of the Chippewas (Indi-
anaAcademy
ofScience, Proceedings,
vol.29,
pp. 347-352, 1919)
, Flood Myths of the Bois Fort Chippewas
(Kansas Academy of Science, Transactions, vol. 30,
pp. 437-443, 1921)
Reichard, Gladys A., Literary Types and Dissemination of
Myths (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 34, pp. 269-
307, 1921)
Rogers, Barbara Thrall and A. H. Gayton. Twenty- seven
Chukchansi Yokuts Myths (Journal of American Folklore,
vol. 57, pp. 190-207, 1944)
Schlieper, Herbert, Die Kosmogonishchen Mythen der
Urv6lker (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Bonn,
1932)
Schmidt, Wilhelm, Der Ursprung der Gottesidee (11 vols.
Miinster i. W., 1926- 1954)
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 30/31
Earth- Diver 179
Simms, S. C., Traditions of the Sarcee Indians (Journal of
American Folklore, vol. 17, pp. 180-182, 1904)
St. Clair, H. H., and Robert H. Lowie, Shoshone and Coman-
che Tales (Journal of American Folklore, vol. 22,
pp. 273-282, 1909)
Swindlehurst, Fred, Folk-Lore of the Cree Indians (Journal
of American Folklore, vol. 18, pp. 139-143, 1905)
Sykes, Egerton, ed., Dictionary of Non-classical Mythology
(London, 1952)
Thompson, Stith, Tales of the North American Indians
(Cambridge, Mass., 1929)
, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (vol. 1,
A-C. Bloomington, Ind., 1955)
Usener, H., Die Sintflutsagen (Bonn, 1899)
Walk, Leopold, Die Verbreitung des Tauchmotivs in den
Urmeerschopfungs- (und Sintflut-) Sagen. A. Das
eurasische Gebiet (Mitteilungen der anthropologischen
Gesellschaft, vol. 63, pp. 60-76. Wien, 1933)
Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie, Creation (in Maria Leach, ed.,
Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and
Legend, vol. 1. New York, 1949)
, Creator (in Maria Leach, ed.,
Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend,
vol. 1. New York, 1949)
, Earth Diver (in Maria Leach,
ed., Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and
Legend, vol. 1. New York, 1949)
Wheeler-Voegelin, Erminie and Remedios W. Moore. The
Emergence Myth in Native North America (in W. Edson
7/29/2019 Kongas the Earth-Diver
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kongas-the-earth-diver 31/31
180 Ethnohistory
Richmond, ed., Studies in Folklore in Honor of Distin-
guished Service Professor Stith Thompson, pp. 66-91.Bloomington, Ind., 1957)
Winternitz, M., Die Flutsagen des Alterthums und der
Naturv6lker (Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesell-
schaft, vol. 31, pp. 305-333. Wien, 1901)