Poul Anderson makes sure that we understand that myths develop through successive stages and survive in different versions, e.g.:
"'I will come to you in springtime with my dowry of rain...
"'Each autumn I will leave you and go back to my sea. But in spring I will come again. This shall be the year and every year henceforward.'" (I, pp. 468, 469.)
That was said at the dawn of time.
"Therefore in spring Naerdha returned to her husband, but not gladly. She left him once more in autumn. So has it been ever since." (II, p. 560)
That happened long after the dawn of time but immediately after a particular conflict. The two stories are not meant to be compatible. Some retellings of myths attempt to reconcile alternative versions. Retellers have different agendas. Neil Gaiman wrote that myths live when retold. And they live in Anderson's and Gaiman's works.
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