Myth, Folklore and Ancient Ethics

From the time before time Mankind has found its inner and external understanding of life through imagination, observation and memory, with memory one of men and women’s supreme endowments. In both pre-literate and later times, Moral, Ethical and Religious teachings were brought to bear on social groups through Myth, Folktale and Religion.
Belief in such Myths, Folktales and Faiths was typically manifest sacramentally, with subjection to such super-human forces demonstrated by sacrifice (human, animal and agricultural) and costumed rites enlisting fire, water, dance and bodily mortification. These pagan and polytheistic observances represented the Faiths of these pre-literate cultures, and adherence to such Faiths and underlying rituals served as a social contract that would require or at least invite behavior thought to enhance the health, welfare and prosperity of these human groupings.
Following a Précis describing generally the social guidance of Myth, Folktale and Faith, this work includes a representative selection of written and unwritten stories offered from twelve regions in each of the six habitable continents from Polar Kamchatka to Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. Separate chapters are devoted to Amerind Flood Origin narratives, Gaelic Irish and Scottish Folklore, and Rabbinical Glossators of Hebraic Folklore.