Top 10 Infamous Mythical Tricksters from Around the World
Tricksters are those who cheat and deceive on people. Mythical tricksters are found in folklore or modern popular culture where they are portrayed as sly creature doing anything to get what they want. Whatever it may be, one has to say, tricksters are interesting beings. Here’s a list of 10 infamous mythical tricksters:
10.
Anansi the Spider
Anansi’s
stories come from West African folklore and
is common among the Ashanti people of Ghana. The stories that they
tell vary in their telling as there is no officially written account of
his myth, however they all tell of his shape-shifting abilities. In a way you
can think of him as the original spider-man.
In the tales told of Anansi, counted among the most infamous mythical tricksters,
he is depicted as a wise trickster who uses his wit as a way to get what he
wants out of animals that are bigger than him. His preferred way of
manipulating others is using their own desires against them such as when he
convinced Nyame to give night and rain to the human race.
9.
Azeban the Trickster Raccoon
Azeban is a
deity who took the form of a raccoon and also one
among the most popular mythical tricksters. His tale was told among the Abenaki
and Penobscot Tribes. He was not a particularly cruel god and went about
tricking people for laughs rather than to harm anyone. The most common
tale told of Azeban is the one that explains how the raccoon came to have black
rings around their eyes.
In this tale, he came across two
blind men who decided to leave town and take care of themselves so as not to be
a burden to anyone else. Another God called Glooscap took pity on them and
provided them with a rope and bucket to help them fetch water. Azeban saw this
gift as an opportunity for mischief. He moved their bucket from the water into
sand and when the first blind men pulled on the rope, he got nothing but sand leading
him to believe that their river had run dry. When the second blind man went to
fetch water, Azeban replaced the bucket in the water. He’d come back with a
bucket full of water and blame his friend for being lazy.
This caused them to fight and
eventually Glooscap came along to mediate their quarrels. He saw Azeban rolling
on the ground, laughing his heart out and decided to teach the raccoon a
lesson. He took hot coal from the fire and marked black circles around Azeban’s
eyes and tails. He still has them to this day so that everyone knows he is a
bandit.
8.
Apate
Apate is
goddess of Greek
mythology who was credited as the spirit of deception and
fraud. She kept in similarly deceitful company as her companion was Dolos, the spirit of trickery and her foe was
Aletheia the spirit of truth. It’s weird for a goddess to feature among
infamous mythical tricksters!
7.
Daucina
Daucina is a
deity who was known for his prowess at seducing
women. He used lies and half-truths to work his way into the beds of
women who could not help but resist his charms. Victims of his seduction are
said to suffer from long-term health problems if they continued to sleep with
him. Therefore young women were warned to avoid Daucina and identify him by his
unnaturally cold penis. He was also Fiji’s sea-faring God. Clans that wished to
attack nearby villages would evoke his blessing. Word has it that Daucina would
then go into the target village disguised as a fisherman and
sell them fish. He would then go back to first clan and promise that they would
kill as many of their foes as he had buyers.
6.
Hermes
The Greek god Hermes
was known to be many things including a messenger, a thief and one of the
greatest mythical tricksters. Legend has it that he was born of a nymph named
Maia and was sired by Zeus, the King of Olympus. Hermes is often shown to
be fast, which is why he was given the task of delivering messages as no other
could move with such pace. However he was always at odds with other Gods as he
had a habit of deceiving them.
His most infamous act of mischief
was when he stole Apollo’s herd of cattle. To keep the Sun God from tracking
where hid them, he gave each of them four boots. Apollo never found his cattle
but he knew that Hermes was responsible. He took Hermes before Zeus to answer
for his mischief however Zeus simply
laughed it off. This act of thievery is why Hermes came to be known as the
patron God of shepherds and thieves.
5.
Tengu
The Tengu
are supernatural beings from ancient
Japanese religions. They are often depicted as forest goblins. They
have the ability to shape-shift into a variety of human or animal forms and can
teleport instantly from place to place. They
gained a reputation for being skilled in the art of war and proud mischief
makers. Their targets of choice when being naughty were egotistic people
and Buddhist
priestswho had forgotten their devotion to being pious. Tengu came
at number five in our list of infamous mythical tricksters.
Photo by:http://yokai.wikia.com/wiki/Tengu
4.
Iktomi
Iktomi is
impish creature with a playful personality who was popular among Dakot
traditions. His playful nature often landed him in dangerous situations which
he would use his wit to get out of. One of the more popular Iktomi-tales
is the one of how ducks got pink eyes. Hunting is not something that he was
proud to do. He preferred to use snares and tricks to catch his prey.
One day he walked by the lake,
hefting his beautiful blanket as if he had something special inside. The ducks
got curious and asked him about what was inside. He claimed that they were
songs and when he opened up the magic blanket, sweet melodies came out of it.
The ducks were delighted to hear the
songs that Iktomi delivered in his blanket. They started to
sing along and he convinced them that for the songs to continue they must sing
along with their eyes closed and if they opened them before the song was done
they would turn red. The ducks obliged and sang along but one young duck could
not help but open them. When he did he saw half of his brethren dead with their
necks snapped. He raised the alarm and the remaining ducks opened
their eyes and flew away but the magic curse of the blanket held true and all
of their eyes turned pink.
Photo by:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iktomi
3.
Loki
Loki is
perhaps the most well-known of all mythical tricksters. He is a pivotal member
of the Asgard, the realm of Norse Gods, however his relationship with his
fellow gods is a strained one. This is due to his disregard for the well-being
of his fellow gods. His immediate relations are not held in high esteem either,
with his daughter being the goddess of the grave and his son is Jomungand, who
is credited with slaying Thor.
His disregard for the proper way
that things should be done extended to defying the laws of nature by becoming
the mother of Sleipni after he shape-shifted into
a mare and allowed him (her?) self to be impregnated by a stallion named
Svadilfari. This among other foul deeds is why he gained a reputation for being
a shallow coward with only his own interests ever in heart. He may occasionally
help others but only when their interests run parallel to his own. Loki’s
distasteful demeanor and being counted among the most infamous mythical
tricksters left no record of him ever being worshiped has survived to date.
Photo by:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki
2.
Kutkh
At number
two in our list of mythical tricksters is Kutkh, a god from Eastern Russiawho
took the form of a raven. He is hailed as the deity responsible for bringing
light to mankind and teaching them how to speak however he did none of this
because he loved mankind. He did it to amuse himself because he thought it
would be funny to see humans speak the way gods do. Kind of like when you teach a
parrot to say human things. Just like most trickster deities
practically no-one worshiped him. Not that he cared as he had a scornful
distaste for the beings from the heavens and considered the other Siberian Gods
to be pompous.
1.
Maui
Maui is an
oceanic trickster god of Hawaiian
origins. His mother never liked him from the day he was born. By the
time he came along she had so many children that she often forgot his name and
so would refer to him as Maui which means ‘thingy’. His mischievous ways
started when he was young. He had the annoying habit of taking his brothers’
fishing lines and hooking them on to each other. This and his other tricks got
him in trouble with his mother who sent him to his father Mekea, the King of
the Underworld,
to deal with him.
His father was happy to see his son
a blessed him a magical fishhook. When he went back home he tried to go fishing
with his brothers using his new fishhook. They resisted at first but he
convinced them to let him join them. One day while they were fishing he got a
big catch, only to pull it up and find that they were islands which came to be
known as Maui. This big catch got to his head and he began to boast about it.
The pride led him to try more audacious pranks such as hooking the sun with his
magic hook and making it move slowly.
His pride and trickery proved to be
his undoing. One day he came across the goddess
Hinenuitepo who was a very large lady and thought that it would
be funny to walk through her body from one entrance to the other as she slept.
As he attempted to sneak in between her legs, she woke up and smashed her legs
together. That was the end of Maui.
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