In the Garden, Before the Fall Corps of Discovery When Dogs Could Talk Myth is such an integral part of the conception of the West.
People think about it in terms of myth.
Always have, I believe. The Kiowa story has it that eight children were playing in the woods, and there were seven sisters and their brother. And a terrible thing happens in the course of the game. The boy actually turns into a bear. And when the sisters see this, they are truly terrified and they run for their lives, the bear after them.