Book Excerpt: th its brother or itssister; and, lastly, the moral significance of the image, which is in allthe great myths eternally and beneficently true.7. The great myths; that is to say, myths made by great people. For thefirst plain fact about myth-making is one which has been most strangelylost sight of, --that you cannot make a myth unless you have something tomake it of. You cannot tell a secret which you don't know. If the mythis about the sky, it must have been made by somebody who has looked atthe sky. If the ...
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Book Excerpt: th its brother or itssister; and, lastly, the moral significance of the image, which is in allthe great myths eternally and beneficently true.7. The great myths; that is to say, myths made by great people. For thefirst plain fact about myth-making is one which has been most strangelylost sight of, --that you cannot make a myth unless you have something tomake it of. You cannot tell a secret which you don't know. If the mythis about the sky, it must have been made by somebody who has looked atthe sky. If the myth is about justice and fortitude, it must have beenmade by someone who knew what it was to be just or patient. According tothe quantity of understanding in the person will be the quantity ofsignificance in his fable; and the myth of a simple and ignorant racemust necessarily mean little, because a simple and ignorant race havelittle to mean. So the great question in reading a story is always, notwhat wild hunter dreamed, or what childish race first dreaded it; butwhat wise man fiRead Mor
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