he declared, ‘I am Charlemagne’. Be it noted that he did not say, ‘ I recall Charlemagne’, nor ‘My position is like Charlemagne’s’, nor even, ‘I am as Charlemagne’, but simply ‘I am he’. This is the mythical formula.25
I.e. This is how myths develop a literal misunderstanding of non-literal association.
The metaphor conducts the information but if it is recieved via mechanical or literal means the fidelity of this ironicly fuzzy comparison is lost.
i.e. Being a son of Zeus oraking a pact with Aphrodite is a metaphore for the assocation of one's self, unconciously or otherwise respectively, with the core qualities of those beings.
