Sundiata and Friends

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 here'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: 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)

Jim Bridger: Mountain Men and Tricksters

When I think of the research I did on Wyoming history, the most trickster-like character that comes to mind is Jim Bridger. I don't think that most people would categorize Bridger as a con-man as such, but there were elements of his life and dealings which hearkened to that ethic. Mountain men in general could be considered a tricksterly lot. They walked the boundaries between white men and Native Americans, mediated between civilization and wilderness. Their annual meeting, the Rendevous, was something of a bacchanal, characterized by drunken brawls and trying to out-sell each other and the traders who came for their goods. One of the attributes which set Bridger apart from the others was his special gift for telling tall tales. They all told them, but he was the master, and was renowned for his stories from the elite of Euro-American society (he even told one of his classics to President Grant, I believe) to the Indian war chiefs themselves (there is a story of how he kept a tribal council enrapt for an hour with a story told all in sign language). His most notorious story was one in which he either died or got scalped at the end, depending on the audience. He was so notorious for his hyperbole that when he told Easterners about the wonders of Yellowstone, no one would believe him at first.

Bridger, like the African trickster Legba, was a master linguist. He was employed as a scout by many people (the railroads, the army, the Mormons) because of this gift. There have been suspicions that his interpretations weren't always accurate. After all, Bridger was also a businessman, and he had his own agendas. He also was known to be quite virile, to put it politely, and was considered handsome. As such, he had several wives, consecutively, maybe (officially), one of whom was Chief Washakie's daughter, called Mary with whom he spent his final years (she probably had another name, but it has since been lost, as far as I know). Like most tricksters, Bridger could not stay in one place. He was always on the move, exploring usually. He acquired the nickname "Old Gabe" because it was said he knew the face of the earth as well as the Angel Gabriel himself. (wings)

I could go on and on, but just as a final interesting note, Bridger went around for years with an arrow imbedded in his shoulder from an Indian skirmish with some Gros Ventres near the Tetons. He had it removed finally in an open air surgery during a rendevous as entertainment, with no anesthesia. Aside from the ick factor, I'm not exactly sure how this relates to being a trickster, but I'm working on it.

Marvels and Wonders

My head is spinning with thoughts of superheroes, Fletch, Ghostbusters, and Derrida. I think Derrida would be amused to find his name lumped in with the others. I have also been looking at my seven-year-old son in a completely different light. Quinton has always been a bit wily, but now I just find it even more amusing than ever (and at times disturbing). I remember his first act of deceit quite well, because it wasn't that long ago. It wasn't a lie, per se. He just took another kid's toy and very deliberately hid it in his pillow case so I wouldn't know. The funny part was that he forgot about it, and when I went to tuck him in that night, well.... he was busted, as they say. Coyote outwits himself. I guess what I find really troubling at this point as a parent is the fact that I have never yet caught my five-year-old daughter in a lie, which possibly means she's already gotten away with something, or some things. And she is apparently very good at it. She especially has my husband wrapped around her little finger, and I am reminded of Mike's link to the Rebekah page (my daughter's name is Aislinn Rebecca) and how the name Rebecca means "ensnarer".