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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45836
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You might want to present the in-story text as a **parable** which means the story has a _teachable message_, rather than words like "mythology" or "religion" which imply a _spiritual calling_.

> the role of the text in context, and the protagonist's reaction to it are the important points

The protagonist needs to _relate_ to the story. He identifies with that situation, and has a realization about an earlier experience, something he failed at. It might be the _wrong realization_ or he might identify with it for the wrong reason, but to him this story makes a kind of personal sense when other myths were just a wall of text.

In every culture there are the "big religion" stories about sacrifice and the gods' transformation to deity, but there will also be hundreds of smaller _parables_ that are just there to show how the god was inherently wise, or honest, or a trixter long before they reached their final status.

**A very silly American myth** that I was told as a child (even in school) was that George Washington "could not tell a lie". He receives a (magical?) hatchet made of silver and uses it to chop down his father's favorite cherry tree. Confronted by his father, Young George fesses up to his over-exuberant tree chopping – or whatever, the story is ridiculous. Worse this parable has nothing whatsoever to do with the themes of _founding a nation_, creating a _representational democracy_, being _a general who leads a revolution_ – all the things George Washington is actually famous for. It's just a parable about why kids shouldn't lie, and giving quasi-supernatural abilities (being unable to lie) to an historical figure.

Modern biographers would view the parable as a _cultural artifact_, but not believe it actually happened. As a 1st-grader this parable was mixed-in with history lessons which were presented as "facts". I absorbed it without question, and never considered it seriously until I was an adult and found it hilarious – mythology bordering on propaganda.

**Your protagonist might relate to one of these smaller parables, and miss the deeper religious themes.** He might walk away from the parable focusing on the wrong message – something like misinterpreting the George Washington story to mean that little boys can commit vandalism without consequences as long as they admit to it afterwards, or somewhere there is a _magical truth ax_ once owned by George Washington.

The temple acolytes could even "lampshade" that this particular story is not necessarily a _core_ philosophy, but still be glad something has sunk in.

Original score: 2