本文以台灣原住民族中普遍流傳的「弟兄始祖神話傳說」為探討對象，藉由對相關神話傳說的考察，發現這些相關的敘事，不僅是各部族人們的歷史經驗與族群集體記憶傳承，同時亦可反映各族群的複雜來源，以及多元的族群關係。另一方面，則透過對這類敘事中「想像／真實」與「神話／歷史」之間的價值界線進行辯證，並對過去許多將「神話傳說」視為「虛構」或「想像」的看法提出反思。以為流傳於台灣原住民族中的許多口傳文學，不但可以為歷史的解釋提供更大的空間，更可作為考察台灣各族群歷史文化及其發展與變遷歷程的重要參考資料，應該得到充分的重視。

This article take ”the brother first ancestor myth and legends in Taiwan aborigines”, which generally spreads in Taiwan, as the discussion object, By the survey of these myth and legends, We discovered that these narratives not only is the people's historical experience and the ethnic group collective memories, but also may reflect the complex origins of the peoples, and the multicultural ethnic relationships in Taiwan aborigines. On the other hand, By this kind of narratives, We would like to discuss the borderline between ”imagination” and ”history”, and ”myth” and ”reality”, and reconsidered the view that regard the myth and legends as fictionalized or imagination in the past. I thought that a lot of oral literature that spread in the Taiwan aborigines generally, not only may provide a bigger space for the historical explanation, but also may administered the important reference to make a survey of the history and culture of Taiwan various ethnic groups, and the development and the transitionary course.