Couchoud explained his own use of the word "myth". A "myth" is a narrative aiming at shaping beliefs. A "religious conception" animates rites, rituals and behaviors: "I am concerned the history of a religious conception." Myth is easily derogatory; it explains a natural fact, a rite, or an idea as a "narrative", to help the mind grasp, and remember rules or beliefs. A "religious conception", is "simpler and deeper, far more unsophisticated and fertile. Its relation to rites and myths is primordial. Zeus is a religious conception. The punishment of the Danaids is a myth."