Coyote Steals Fire, And Master Cat: Puss In Boots

Just like how books written today reflect our modern day cultures and mindsets, trickster tales emulate the culture of the society they originated in. These stories often teach a lesson, showing the ideals of the society through the moral the story presents to the reader. Although the trickster tales “How Stories Came to Earth,” “Coyote Steals Fire,” and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” come from three very different parts of the world and cultures, they have similarities as well as differences. While all three stories, “How Stories Came to Earth” retold by Kaleki, “Coyote Steals Fire” retold by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots” by Charles Perrault include anthropomorphism and the use of deception by the tricksters to achieve their
goal, the stories differ because the first two stories’ tricksters’ outcomes benefit society while the other only benefits the trickster itself.
All three of the short stories, “How Stories Came to Earth,” “Coyote Steals Fire,” and “Master Cat: Puss in Boots,” apply the literary theme anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of human characteristics to gods, animals, or inanimate objects because the tricksters, which are animals, possess human traits, ambitions, and emotions. In the first story, the trickster, a spider named Anansi, shows human qualities in many ways, one being that he is married to another spider named Aso. Together, the two spiders show another humanistic trait because they possess curiosity and wish to “know the beginnings and endings of things” (Kaleki 40). This shows anthropomorphism because although Anansi and Aso are insects, they exhibit the desire to learn the history of earth and how everything came to be. The trickster in the second story, Coyote, although not seeking the stories of earth’s creation, shows anthropomorphism through the way he develops a game to play with Thunder. He achieves his goal, obtaining fire for the tribes, through this game since Thunder agrees that if Coyote wins, “[he] ha[s] to give
[Coyote] fire” (Erdoes and Ortiz 45). This displays anthropomorphism because while normally animals do not have to ability to think so cunningly to achieve their goal, Coyote uses the age-old human hoax of tricking an opponent into agreeing to his wishes. Similar to Coyote, the trickster of the third story, the cat, uses sneakiness and lies to achieve his goal. While his master in reality has no idea what he is up to, the cat presents the king of France with gifts and says that his master “instructed [him] to present [them] to [the king] on his behalf” (Perrault 48). This shows anthropomorphism because while the cat in his true state is animalistic and merciless towards other creatures, exemplified through how he finds joy in killing the animals for the king, he uses overwhelmingly fake politeness to get what he wants, which is for the king to like his master and promote his master to a higher social status. All three of the trickster tales apply the theme anthropomorphism to the story because the trickster in each of them, although an animal, possesses human qualities. The trickster Anansi in the story “How Stories Came to Earth,” uses deception to trick his prey, the other creatures, into capture so that he can take them to the sky god in exchange for Earth’s stories. When he first goes to the sky god, Nyame, and asks for the earth’s stories, Nyame tells him that he must capture four creatures and bring them to the sky god for the reward. At first, Anansi is at a loss for how to accomplish this, but after he asks his wife for assistance she advises him to use tricks instead of brute force. Anansi’s first victim, a python named Onini, falls victim to him when Anansi puts his acting skills to good use and says “‘Aso is a liar, for she says that you are longer than this palm branch and I say you are not’” (Kaleki 41). Outraged by this belittling claim, Onini stretches himself out alongside the branch to debunk what Anansi said, only to be wrapped up and tied to the branch then taken to Nyame. Anansi captures the next two creatures similarly, then finds himself faced with the last creature, the hardest one to capture: the fairy Mmoatia. He devises a plan and makes a doll, convincingly real enough that the fairy believes that it is real, then puts “yams into a brass basin at her feet” (Kaleki 42). When the fairy comes along, she finds herself unable to resist the treat and eats the yams, but when she thanks the doll, of course the doll does not respond. Angry at this rudeness, the fairy slaps the doll and sticks her hand into the sticky tree sap Anansi had put there, leaving her unable to defend herself when Anansi comes out from hiding and announces that he is taking her to Nyame in exchange for the stories. During all four captures of the creatures, instead of using outright force, Anansi uses deception to trick his prey into submission.