An Australian legend may be the world’s oldest datable story

ORAL MYTHOLOGY has tremendous staying power. The Klamath, a group of Native Americans who live in Oregon, tell tales of an underworld god called Llao who fell in love with a mortal woman and grew furious when she refused his advances. He emerged from a mountain to cascade fire down onto her village, but was then attacked by Skell, a sky god who wished to protect human beings. Skell forced Llao back into the earth, and the mountain he had emerged from collapsed on top of him during his retreat. Terrible rains followed, and the hole left behind became a great lake.An everyday story of deities the world over, then. Except that the mountain in question is Mount Mazama, a dormant volcano, and the body of water is now known as Crater Lake. Geological evidence shows that the eruption which created the lake happened 7,700 years ago. The story of Skell, Llao and the earthly maiden thus seems to be an interpretation of real events that has been passed on intact for almost eight millennia.