Note 26 — INTRODUCTION

Now, for example, the narratives concerning the so-called Stone Coats, Stone Giants, or the Genonsgwa are not myths but legends. These beings do not figure in the Creation Myth of the Iroquois, but are a brood of beings whose connection with Stone is due to false etymology of a proper name in a myth.26 This is an interesting and instructive example of forgotten derivations of words and names and the resultant new conceptions.