ABSTRACT
Societies characterized by archaic systems of thought and by primi tive economies are usually associated with the concept that beginnings are the result of spontaneous transformation and transposition or of the theft of the various objects from their custodians. For example, once the Australian Aboriginal totemic ancestors are finished with their journey, they feel “exhausted” and transform themselves spontaneously into hills, rocks, trees, and animals. The only traces they leave of their movement over the landscape are scattered piles of sacred rocks. In other my thologies, victims of persecution, and sometimes even the persecutors themselves, are transformed into hills and streams or flee to the heavens, where they transform themselves into stars. Some transformations are associated with superficial resemblances: sometimes coconuts are said to have arisen from a human head, whereas in other myths humans de velop from coconut trees; the sun develops from fire, or vice versa.
