Myth as a source of literary creation

Abstract

From Ramnoux's theory that the myth proliferates into romanesque variations when it does not fulfill its organization function in society, we consider the mity of Mélusine as a fragmented and modified variation of the woman-animal myth of hunt/colect societies. Mélusine seems to have inspired Alexandre Herculano's short story "A dama pé-de-cabra" in which it was favoured the marvelous christian, therefore, we only found the demoniac aspects of the mythical character, for it is not about the myth itself which reflects the social, cultural and temporal context of a people. Consequently, we consider "A dama pé-de-cabra" as a literary creation that represents an inversion of the initial myth.