THREE HUNDRED YEARS

In his fascinating book Oral Tradition as History, Jan Vansina describes something he calls the floating gap.  The book is replete with examples of oral traditions, such as in Africa, among the Hopi, and other people.  He even mentions some oral traditions regarding local or family events among the modern English, et al.  His purpose is to investigate under which conditions such traditions can be used as reliable history.

Especially interesting in this regard is the origin of a certain tradition among the Hopi recounted on pp 19-20.

What is Flynn nattering on about now?