![]() Loki also exhibits sex variability, in one case even becoming pregnant. In Norse mythology the mischief-maker is Loki, who is also a shapeshifter. Loki cuts the hair of the goddess Sif.įrequently the trickster figure exhibits gender and form variability. In Slavic folktales, the trickster and the culture hero are often combined. He is the patron of thieves and the inventor of lying, a gift he passed on to Autolycus, who in turn passed it on to Odysseus. In some Greek myths Hermes plays the trickster. Many cultures have tales of the trickster, a crafty being who uses tricks to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. The trickster openly questions, disrupts or mocks authority. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. Often, this bending or breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser". Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story ( god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior. The trickster figure Reynard the Fox as depicted in an 1869 children's book by Michel Rodange There is, for example, the widespread tale of how Coyote outsmarts an anthropologist who comes on the Rez and catches him in a live trap to get his stories.For other uses, see Trickster (disambiguation). Among the latter, his chief function seems to be to satirize and "hold off" the encroachments of Anglo culture. Instead, they were sanctioned for formal indoor performance, in winter, in the season of spirit-power celebrations.Ĭoyote stories are still popular in Oregon's Indian communities today, both traditional tales and Coyote adventures set in the modern world. It is a measure of the importance (and perhaps the seductiveness) of Coyote stories in Native cultures in Oregon and elsewhere that by custom they were not to be told casually between spring and early fall, when there was work to be done outdoors. In his comic and mythic modes, as in the well known Nez Perce "Orpheus" story, "Coyote and the Shadow People," he projects the fullest, most compelling image of human nature to be found in the traditional Native story-repertories. In his mixed nature as Trickster/Transformer, Coyote is not a "culture hero." He is, as we say, "all too human" in his foibles. Mostly, he sets good precedents, such as liberating the salmon and inventing copulation, but he also establishes some that are regrettable, as when he recklessly loses forever the possibility of bringing loved ones who have died back to life. In the Wasco Chinookan story-cycle, for example, Coyote travels up the Columbia River, tricking the Myth Age figures he meets, but also setting mythic precedents as he goes. In many Coyote stories-notably, those set in the Myth Age, when reality is being constructed-he is a transformer as well as a trickster. He provides a vicarious escape from social restrictions-that is, until his usual come-uppance for such outrageous misbehavior reinforces them. Nonetheless, Coyote is a very popular figure, playing his role of scheming, self-seeking trickster, stirring up trouble, testing and violating moral precepts. And, of course, there are many stories in Oregon and elsewhere with no coyotes at all. In fact, he often appears in secondary roles, sometimes as a foil to a heroic protagonist. Likewise, it would be mistaken to claim that Coyote is necessarily the primary character in Indian traditional repertories. A Navajo storyteller once denied that a Coos story about Coyote stealing salmon was really a Coyote story at all, noting that in Navajo country, coyotes don't eat fish. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that all Indian groups have the same conception of Coyote. This is hardly surprising, given the widespread distribution of coyotes ( canis latrans) and their human-like intelligence, wily resourcefulness, and playfulness. The figure of Coyote is prominent in Native American traditional narratives in Oregon and throughout the West. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |