Kane Chapter One and Patterns

"Myths-stories about gods. That is the truncated definition which has been kept alive through the ages by literature." p. 32

"Because a people coevolve with their habitat, because they walk the paths their ancestors walked, mythtelling assumes that the stories already exist in nature, waiting to be overheard by humans who will listen for them. Such stories have a semiwild existence; they are just barely domesticated and so are free to enact the patterns of the natural world." p. 33

"This, then, is prehistory's definiton of myth. The definition directs us towards an emotional and philosophical language of coevolution with nature, a language that allows all life, not just human life, to participate in the ecology of the earth." p. 33

"The proper subject of myth is the ideas and emotions of the Earth." p. 34

"The mythtellers speak of the powers in relation to each other, and with an eye to the whole ecology, not separable functions of it. They know that each being has a partner, and each works off the other to its own gain, and in the end forms a pattern." p. 36

My understanding of the first part of the chapter in Wisdom of the Mythtellers entitled Patterns is that myth and nature are essentially linked in a way that if you seperate one, you lose the others purpose if not its entirety. This made me think of the stories of creation and journeys that many native tribes tell that use the land around them as their guide. The mention certain rivers and mountains and other landmarks to either reference their story or inspire their story. The notion that the earth is the proper subject of myth is also intiguing in that mythical creatures in my mind are often more of a supernatural nature. However, one has to take a step back and reexamine the definition of myth in that instance. Myth as stories of gods who created the earth and rule it seems to reconnect this thread for me.