Note 14 — Chapter VI · THE INTERPRETATION OF ANDAMANESE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS: MYTHS AND LEGENDS

When we thus connect the different stories relating to the flood we see that they express a definite system of representations or beliefs, which are found in all the tribes, and that this system is sometimes completely and sometimes partially expressed in the different versions. On the interpretation here suggested the major motives of the flood myth are (1) the social value of fire as expressed by making the difference between man and the animals depend on its possession by the former and not by the latter, and (2) the notion of the animals as having once been one with the ancestors. These two motives are both present in the legends of the origin of fire that were previously considered. It can be shown that even the third motive of the fire legend manages to creep into the flood story. In the Aka-Kede version14 the dove is mentioned as having saved the fire. The connection between the dove and the fire (which appears in other legends)15 would seem to have its basis in the shining plumage of the bird, just as the kingfisher is connected with the fire through the red feathers of its neck.