Essential Elements
(or Conservative Features)
What Are Essential Elements (or Conservative Features)?
In Chapter 3, "Tradition", of our text, Living Folklore, Sims and Stephens reference Barre Toelken as "suggesting that folklore has both "dynamic" (changing) and "conservative" (static) features. "Dynamic" features allow folklore to be adaptable and provide the opportunity for "creativity of expression" and "keep[ing] the tradition vital." In opposition, "conservative features" are "defined by the community" and "more powerful than the individual's preferences" and serve to "preserve a sense of continuity (Sims and Stephens 2011, 81)."
Earth Diver's
"dynamic" features
If you listened to one or more of the Earth Diver myths, you know they vary ... the waters of earth may be primeval or deluge (i.e. flood waters); humans may be present or only animals; the original animals are often only kinds of birds or various aquatic creatures; the diver(s) may be a muskrat, mink, beaver, duck, hell-diver, toad, or crawfish; the sand or mud may be placed on a raft or turtle's back, and there may even be Christian elements (Aftandilian 2011, 194) (Kirtly 1957,362) (Köngäs 1960, 152-162).
Köngäs studied Earth Diver myths from all over the world. She identified "four essential elements" (or conservative features) ...
Earth Diver's 4 "essential elements":
1. an earth covered by water, 2. a creator,
3. a diver, and 4. the making of the earth
(Köngäs 1960, 166)
Köngäs concludes that both the original creator and diver were birds
(Köngäs 1960, 153, 156, 163, 167-168).