n the nature of myth ascribable
to post-Sung times can at best be regarded only as a late blossom
born when summer days are past.

Myth and Doubt

It will bear repetition to say that unless the myth-builder firmly
believes in his myth, be he the layer of the foundation-stone or one
of the raisers of the superstructure, he will hardly make it a living
thing. Once he believes in reincarnation and the suspension of natural
laws, the boundless vistas of space and the limitless aeons of time are
opened to him. He can perform miracles which astound the world. But
if he allow his mind to inquire, for instance, why it should have been
necessary for Elijah to part the waters of the Jordan with his garment
in order that he and Elisha might pass over dryshod, or for Bodhidharma
to stand on a reed to cross the great Yangtzu River, or for innumerable
Immortals to sit on 'favourable clouds' to make their journeys through
space, he spoils myth--his child is stillborn or does not survive to
maturity. Though the growth of philosophy and decay of superstition
may be good for a nation, the process is certainly conducive to the
destruction of its myth and much of its poetry. The true mythologist
takes myth for myth, enters into its spirit, and enjoys it.

We may thus expect to find in the realm of Chinese mythology a large
number of little hills rather than a few great mountains, but the
little hills are very good ones after their kind; and the object of
this work is to present Chinese myth as it is, not as it might have
been had the universe been differently constituted. Nevertheless, if,
as we may rightly do, we judge of myth by the sentiments pervading
it and the ideals upheld and taught by it, we shall find that Chinese
myth must be ranked among the greatest.

Myth and Legend

The general principles considered above, while they explain the paucity
of myth in China, explain also the abundance of legend there. The six
hundred years during which the Mongols, Mings, and Manchus sat upon
the throne of China are barren of myth, but like all periods of the
Chinese national life are fertile in legend. And this chiefly for the
reason that myths are more general, national, divine, while legends are
more local, individual, human. And since, in China as elsewhere, the
lower classes are as a rule less educated and more superstitious than
the upper classes--have a certain amount of constructive imagination,
but not enough to be self-critic