First People Legends

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/SpiritChiefNamesTheAnimalPeople-Salish.html

(thanks again to Jerod)

Sundiata and Friends

(another pilfering from my other trickster blog) Reading about African tricksters took me back to an African literature class I had several years ago. My exposure to the book "Sundiata" predates the movie "The Lion King" so I must confess I never saw the correlation, but there's a website that calls Sundiata the Lion King below. To summarize very briefly and ineloquently, Sundiata was the West African megastar epic hero some 700 or so years ago. His story is something like Charlemagne's, Gungadin's, Odysseus', or the like: in short, well, epic. It was told for years only by griots, who bore a strong relationship, incidentally, to court jesters, or perhaps bards is a better analogy. They were the royals' keepers of knowledge. To learn more go here: (http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/sundiata.htm

Another book I remember from that class is "The Palm Wine Drinkard", which has many amusing tales about incidents at crossroads. These stories have "trickster" written all over them. The book includes such priceless chapter headings as "RETURN THE PARTS OF BODY TO THE OWNERS", "A FULL-BODIED GENTLEMAN REDUCED TO A HEAD", and
'THE FATHER OF GODS SHOULD FIND OUT WHEREABOUTS THE DAUGHTER OF THE HEAD OF THE TOWN WAS." (see a glimpse of the book itself at http://www.africanreviewofbooks.com/100best/100bestsamples/tutuola.html)

The Ambrosia Quartet performs "Coyote March on a Full Moon" by Paris Fairbanks, an American Indian composer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2BYD-6n1hc

With special thanks to Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate

Tricky Tricky Cancer

After a recent cancer scare, my thoughts turn once more (as they so often do) to tricksterly things. I'm sure that thinking of cancer as a trickster entity is neither new, nor a stretch. Tricksters are more often referred to as "virulent" but the more we learn about cancer the more links we see to viruses. The ways that a disease -- whether cancer or virus -- can outwit the body's own immune system gives us pause and opportunity to contemplate the nature of myth, the ways that ancient peoples (and modern) find to account for the unthinkable, the unbearable. Our stories are more scientific now, to be sure, but we continue to be cleverly outdone by illnesses that take our loved ones from us in inexplicable ways. Trickster is, after all, the mediator between life and death, the one who crosses between decay and growth, hope and despair, love and loss. I'm just grateful that, for the time being at least, I will not be requiring the trickster tradition of deathbed humor. It's all about survival after all.

Political Segue: Obama Nation

Yes, this is a play on the word abomination, which I'm sure many people have believed Obama to be, and that only highlights his tricksterism. Obama came from the fringes, not really "properly" black or white, always evading traps laid for him, and through creative discourse captured the imagination of a nation. He is the ultimate survivor. He is the master of "the dozens" in debates. Let us just hope he does not, with that so-serious look he had when he spoke tonight, end up in the role of that trickster nemesis, "Hates to be Contradicted," who was so well embodied by our soon-to-be past pres, W.

Or worse (better?) still, let us hope he does not get caught up in the other trickster weakness that Monica Lewinsky represents. Bill Clinton was quite fool enough in that regard, as the trickster tends to be when his pants get involved, or lack of same.

So here's hoping for the best a trickster can offer an ailing nation, with a cautionary nod at what a trickster can further mess up.