April 02, 2004

Native American Trickster Tales In the Native American oral tradition, the vulgar but sacred Trickster assumes many forms. He can be Old-Man Coyote among the Crow tribes, Raven in northwestern Indian lore, or, more generically, "The Tricky One" (such as Wakdjunkaga among the Winnebago or Manabozho among the Menomini), to mention just a few of his manifestations.
posted by moonbird 20 years ago
  • Moonbird: This just may be the greatest Monkey post ever. Very appropriate for April Fools. Coyote-Trickster is my hero. Thank you.
  • Fascinating, my respect for the coyote has been increased ten-fold. Belief systems of other cultures are always very interesting because they can tell you so much about them. [banana]
  • I love the Trickster-Coyote stories from Native American oral tradition. One of my anthro lecturers was a Choyumne (I forget the correct spelling) from Monterey/Salinas area, and had regular storytelling sessions. And now I can't remember a single story, so this link is super-awesome.
  • Oh, yes, this is great!
  • And the morale of the story is, never let Coyote into your stomach to visit anybody.
  • My family stopped unintentionally feeding ravens here some fifty-odd years ago, since which time we began, at my instigation, intentionally setting food out for them. And what thanks do these intelligent birds give me? They sit in the walnut tree directly over my truck and leggo their droppings all down my windshield and down the driver's-side door. It is unsightly, but on the plus side, has never once been broken into, no matter how mean the streets where I park. Despite which, I go on feeding them. I suspect a genetic predisposition was established long ago, when my clan became accustomed to supporting ingrates in the days of the Stewart kings, my grief.
  • Don't worry, they'll put in a good word for you with WOTAN, thereby improving your chances to get a good seat in Valhalla.
  • Gah! Druther slink off and feed sock bunnies to Fenris!