Comparing The Tricksters Of Light And Fire

Tricia Landis
Professor Vaughan
World Mythology 201
12th October, 2014
Trickster Essay
The Tricksters of Light and Fire
Trickster tales can express culture and can also be folklores from beliefs. These stories tell us how the tricksters behaved and in most cases convey a lesson or moral. A trickster is a character who does not follow rules and tricks others for their benefit. They can be animals, humans, or other characters. They can also be good or bad, clever or unintelligent, tough or fragile, caring or cruel, and so on. Tricksters are often untrustworthy trouble makers who try to manipulate others to get what they want. Through contrasting tales, Anansi, Coyote and Raven, all had similarities and differences revolved around the
role of the Trickster as light or fire giver.Anansi was the spider who provided light. Many could see him as greedy, sneaky, and not having a sense of right and wrong. He is also known as a culture hero and many times tumbles into trouble. In some ways he shows compassion and intelligences. He is admired for having victories over those who are larger and stronger than him, but never really gains moral approval. He can be smart but then often shows his clumsiness. Sometimes he helps other creatures but only for his advantages. This tale is about Anansi falling into a hole, and also getting eaten by a fish. Then each of his six sons work together to get him out and save him. On Anansi’s way home he finds a beam of light and plans to give it to one of his sons. When he cannot figure out which son to give it two he hands it off to Nyame, the God of all things, and Nyame decides to take it up into the sky where everyone can see it.
More often than not Coyote is a trickster, but in many instances is different.
Coyote has many heroic attributes like alteration, traveling, high deeds, and authority. He also is known for changing landscapes, and also getting ahold of many things sacred. Even when Coyote could have been defeated his courage kept him going and in many instances helped him get what he wanted. He knew what to do to alter things and irritate things in ways to defeat them. In the tale Coyote steals fire; he shows passion to help out the human. It was winter and the humans were without warmth. It was often so cold babies and the elders could survive. Coyote passed the tribe and hears the women crying due to the loss of their infants. He thought for a little and knew there was something he could do. The Fire Beings lived on top of the mountain and guarded. The only source of warmth was inside a huge rock that belonged to Thunder. Thunder was very frightening but Coyote, who was about the only one, was not afraid of him. Thunder roared and sent everyone into hiding, during this time Coyote realized it was time to get the fire. He went up to him and asked him to play a game of dice. If Thunder won he would kill Coyote and if Coyote won Thunder would give him fire. Coyote tricked Thunder and won, Thunder knew this but could not prove it. Coyote tricked Thunder leaving his body there and messing with Thunder; meanwhile all the animals grabbed some fire and stuck it under their armpits, bringing fire to all tribes. He then tricked the hunter acting like a piece of wood. He also used magic to make the chief drowsy. The Coyote walked away with the sun and the moon in his basket. Messing with the sun and the moon, he established that the sun would be out during the day and the moon at night. He did not really like it but the people told Coyote he did well and made him
chief.
The Raven is selfish, tricky, and motivated. He works hard to achieve what he wants even he has to alter himself as well as others. Before the Raven whole world was dark, he brought light upon the world. This story involves an old man. This old man has an infinite number of boxes. These boxes just happen to be all different sizes. The old man does not want to open these boxes because one contains light and he is afraid to see if his daughter is ugly. In a plot to steal the light, the raven shrinks himself down to a hemlock needle in a basket of drinking water. The daughter drinks this and become pregnant. Soon Raven is reborn and is a raven/human child. Even though he is not normal the old man still accepts him as a grandson. Soon the Raven begins opening the boxes, one at a time pleading and crying until the old man lets him open the box containing the light. Raven runs out with the light causing the light to spread across the world revealing the old man’s beautiful daughter. As Raven flies away, Eagle sees him and tries to take the light, which makes Raven drop some creating the moon and the stars.
The Anansi, Coyote, and Raven all have the role of tricksters as light or fire giver. Although these gods can be deceiving and vulgar, they all still show a soft side and compassion. All Gods created sunlight but Coyote also created fire. These gods act almost alike but use different ways to achieve their goal. The Anansi shows a lot of clumsiness and even though he can defeat just about anyone like the Coyote he still has to depend on his six sons to get him out of trouble. The Coyote gets defeated the first time unlike the other Gods; he also cheated his way to defeat Thunder. The Coyote also created fire for the tribes who would have died without a source of heat. The Raven was the only God to alter someone else’s body. The Raven used the girl to impregnate her and recreated himself. All there Gods created sun light and the moon to help out the world. If it was not for these three Gods the land would never have day and night. We could still be living in darkness. These Gods all share the same personality’s, they are sneaky, courageous and use manipulation. None of these Gods care if they hurt people in the process, they get what they want in the end and it does not matter how. Although these gods can be deceiving and vulgar, they all still show a soft side and compassion. Anansi shows it with his six sons, Coyote and Raven show it through getting sunlight to the humans. These Gods all show how they incorporated their tricky ways and their roles as the tricksters involving the light and fire contributors. If it was not for them who knows if humans would even be able to live on earth.

Work Cited
"Anansi The Spider (1972)." Vimeo. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. American Indian Trickster Tales. New York: Viking, 1998. 6-9. Print."Northern Exposure - Christmas - The Raven Pageant." YouTube. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
Thury, Eva M., and Margaret Klopfle Devinney. Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.