I Myths are by their very nature eternal, resisting the flow of time. They move in a space of half truths. They include simple and more complex versions of themselves, and they can be summed up in a few words or spun out as tales over a thousand and one nights.
True myths cross class lines, going from a peasant hearth to a cafe table at a university.
They don't always tell the same story. Beyond the core message, versions are different and the moral of the story may change. Magic accompanies myths. Myths are social property. They exist to help us build utopias on a small scale, to create lives of saints, images, common references, styles of action and morals, in order to make these real.