, Padraic, _The Children of Odin_.

Guerber, H. A., _Myths of Northern Lands_.

Keary, Anna and Eliza, _The Heroes of Asgard_.

Mabie, Hamilton Wright, _Norse Stories_.

Wilmot-Buxton, E. M., _Stories of Norse Heroes_.

IV. NATURE MYTHS ("POURQUOI" STORIES)

Cook, Flora J., _Nature Myths_.

Holbrook, Florence, _The Book of Nature Myths_.

V. CRITICAL WORKS

Cox, Sir G. W., _Mythology of the Aryan Nations_. 2 vols.

Fiske, John, _Myths and Myth-Makers_.

Frazer, J. G., _The Golden Bough_. 12 vols.

Hartland, E. S., _The Legend of Perseus_. 3 vols.

Lang, Andrew, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_. 2 vols.

Mueller, Max, _Contributions to the Science of Mythology_.

Ruskin, John, _Athena, Queen of the Air_.

Spencer, Herbert, _Principles of Sociology_.

Tylor, E. B., _Primitive Culture_. 2 vols.

SECTION VI. MYTHS

INTRODUCTORY

_What myths are._ It seems that every race of people in the period of
barbarism and early civilization has created fanciful, childlike stories
to explain such things as the origin of earth, sun, stars, clouds, life,
death, fire, man, lower animals, and plants, and the characteristics of
particular plants and animals. In most cases, if not all, they have
accounted for the origin of such things by the theory that they were
created by gods and super-human heroes. Among such peoples as the Greek
and Norse folk, many stories also grew up regarding the gods and
super-human heroes and their relations with one another and with men.
All of these old stories about the creation of things and about the gods
and super-human heroes are called myths. As time went on and the peoples
became civilized, the original myths were regarded merely as fanciful
tales, and were used to furnish characters and plots for many stories
told chiefly for entertainment. Often, as in the story of Ulysses,
legends of national heroes were combined with them. Even in our time
such writers as Hawthorne and Kingsley and Lowell have used these old
characters and plots as the basis of stories, many of which differ
greatly from the original myths.

_Myths and other folk stories._ Myths were pretty largely matters of
faith to begin with. They were the basis of old-time religious beliefs,
explaining to the mind of primitive man how things came to be as they
are. This tendency to adopt what are to educated minds fanciful
explanations of all that is beyond their understanding is easi