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Show IQOO] INDIAN RELIGION 255 formation from an early condition of misfortune and misery to a better state. \ Creation myths as such can hardly be said to exist, though in California and a few other regions stories are told which might properly come under that term, " The usual genesis myth is of a period when the earth was wholly different from what it is now. v People existed then, but not in their present form. There was no particular differentiation between men and animals. People were ignorant, poor, and miserable, and the world was harried by monsters with which the people could not cope. There was no daylight and no fire and no knowledge of the arts. It was a period pre- eminently of mystery and magic. ^ In this world of mystery appears the transformer or wa& clerer or culture hero, as he is variously termed, who travels about working wonders, changing the- existing order of things, and bringing affairs more or less into the condition in which they are at present. The account of the transformer's journeys, adventures, and achievements is the typical Indian myth, and usually forms a cycle about which the other stories cluster. There is usually an introduction treating of the birth and early life of the transformer, and this is followed by the history of his deeds, which forms the main part of the myth. After his work is ended the transformer disappears in a miraculous manner, or is turned into stone,, or terminates his career in some extraordinary way. His return is confidently expected by the Indians, |
