Tricksters: thinking aloud meets AKICIF

[redbird]

Who is the European/Christian Trickster?

If you're Native North American, s/he's Coyote. In Africa, one of Trickster's names is Anansi the spider.

Is there a European Trickster other than Loki? Prometheus tricked the gods, but that's a bit different and was a one-time deal.

And yes, I know that European doesn't equal Christian, in either direction, but I don't have a better shorthand for our dominant culture. Euro-American?

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Hermes is certainly a trickster.

In English folklore, which is part of my tradition, "Jack" is the trickster. Everyone knows the beanstalk story, but Jack had lots of other adventures. I don't know if that's the kind of story you're looking for, or if Jack is too mundane...he's an ordinary boy (sometimes even a bit dim) with a clever streak. Nothing divine about him, as far as I know.

I don't know how Jack is related to Jacob, the main trickster in my tradition sacred stories. He acquires his brother's birthright by craft and trickery, wrestles with an angel to get what he wants, tricks his father-in-law, and still comes out of it with a good reputation. But there are a lot of Jewish stories about clever people tricking other people, and those can be downright gleeful...stories that touch on divinity, or holiness, seem a lot less gleeful, even when the themes are similarly tricksy.

Something noteworthy about Coyote, or Anansi, or Loki, is that they deal in the realms of the *gods*. This seems very different from stories about Jack, or Joha, or Hershele, who are very human tricksters with mortal opponents.