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hi there I'm Mike Rugnetta this is crash

course mythology and today we're going

to start the first of a few episodes

show favorite trickster stories but be

warned trickster myths can get sexy a

little gross and they're filled with

betrayal but we should be able to handle

it right toad oh oh toe Stan just texted

me you've been promoted to host so uh

I'm just going to go grab a coffee see

you later good luck just kidding there's

no way to talk it hosts the show he's

like thousands of years old and he only

speaks ancient Egyptian which literally

no one understands but roping some

sucker into doing my work is exactly the

sort of thing a trickster would

trickster stories are traditionally very

popular and for a good reason

in many trickster stories the underdogs

come out on top and not by virtue of

their superior strength or immortal

attributes either but because of their

smarts another appealing thing about

tricksters is that they're transgresses

they're rebels and who doesn't love a

rebel just ask Ares Greek god of war and

rebellion or James Dean the American god

of pomade and leather jackets a good

place to start his mythologist David Li

Ming's description of a trickster the

trickster is at once wise and foolish

the perpetrator of tricks and the butt

of his own jokes always male he is

promiscuous and amoral he is outrageous

in his actions he emphasizes the lower

bodily functions he often takes animal

form if the trickster is profoundly

inventive creative by nature and in some

ways a helper to humanity so a moral and

scatological but otherwise a good guy we

all have that friend I think let's begin

in Africa African trickster stories

remain popular and frequently have

ambiguous or morally dubious endings

according to theory and Divini unlike

European folk tales which usually has a

happy ending

trickster stories typically end in

disharmony so let's see exactly what

they mean by disharmony in the FATA

Anansi the spider and his son Quakers

and our farmers having a bad year

because of a drought one day quakin sin

is out for a walk lamenting the poor

harvest and he sees a hunchback dwarfed

by the side of the road

the dwarf asks quakes in what's wrong

and when he explains the dwarf promises

to help

he tells quakin seem to find two small

sticks and tapped him lightly on his

hump while singing so pat test and it

begins to rain soon the crops start

growing Anansi thinks he can do better

and goes to look for the dwarf himself

making sure to bring two big sticks the

dwarf tells a non-si to tap him on his

hump again but Anansi ends up hitting

the dwarf so hard that he killed him now

Anansi is scared because the dwarf was

the King's favorite jester so he puts

the dwarfs body in a Cola tree and wait

when his son quicken sin come by and

asks his father if he'd seen the dwarf

Ananse he tells him that the dwarf is

climbing the tree looking for a : the

quicken sin climbs up the tree the

dwarfs body falls down to the ground

Anansi cries out that his son had killed

the Kings jester the Quaker thin nose

announced his tricks and replies that

the king was actually angry with the

dwarf and now he could go to the king

and collect a reward knowing there's a

bounty announced he exclaims that he had

killed the dwarf Anansi arrives at the

Kings Court and discovers the king was

not angry with the Jester but now he's

certainly angry with Anansi the King

orders the body of the dwarf to be put

in a box which announcement must carry

on his head forever unless he finds

someone else to carry it eventually

announced he comes across ant and asks

him to hold the box while he goes to the

market and wouldn't you know it ant fall

for it this is why so this day we often

see ants carrying great bird thanks

thought-bubble

probably becoming clear why you know a

lot of us just don't trust spiders in a

number of ways this is a classic African

trickster story it features animals with

human characteristics interacting in a

human world the trickster is initially

undone by his own greed if an Ozzy had

just listened to his son and not tried

to outdo him he would have been okay

also maybe he shouldn't have tried to

frame his son for a murder but a non-si

failed in his attempt to

he's crying because his son knows his

reputation for duplicity

despite his cleverness amounts his greed

gets the better of him

his desire for the reward leads him to

admit his bad deed and be punished for

it and if he did end up carrying the

coffin for eternity the story might

provide a lesson about justice but a

non-si being a trickster is able to

convince someone else to bear his burden

so he gets off scot-free the ending of

the story does explain a natural

phenomenon why ants are so industrious

but the story isn't exactly a model for

good behavior in the end an ounce he

gets away with killing the dwarf and

come up in his brief and the only thing

he learns is that amp are total suckers

it's really like a Quentin Tarantino

film of tricks turning the story of

Anansi and the aunt bears some

resemblance to one of Hercules labors

we'll talk more about Hercules when we

get to our episode on heroes but the

long and short that he had to do twelve

labors and completing them cemented his

reputation one of these Labour's xi was

to gather Zeus's golden apples from the

far end of the earth these apples were

guarded by a dragon and the Hesperides

nymphs who were the daughters of Atlas

the Titan with the unenviable task of

holding the world on his shoulders

taught about legendary back pain it took

a long time and a number of adventures

before Hercules even found out where the

apples were but eventually he told about

them by another trickster Prometheus

if you remember him he's a guy who stole

fire for the humans and was punished by

being chained to a rock and having his

liver eaten daily by an eagle well good

news eventually Hercules killed that

eagle and in return Prometheus tells him

that's the way to get the apples isn't

to fight a dragon but to simply ask

Atlas atlas can easily get past his

daughters and that mr. dragon no sweat

so Hercules makes a deal with Atlas

Hercules will hold up the world giving

Atlas a much-needed break and in return

Apple Atlas is thrilled because I mean

think about it how would you feel

holding up the literal world all the

time so he leaves he goes he grabs the

apples the problem is that when he

returns he tells Hercules that he really

doesn't want to hold up the earth and

the sky anymore so like maybe that's

just your job now Hercules I don't know

spit balling here so here's Hercules he

can't move he's holding the world after

all but he does some quick tricky

thinking he tells that list sure he'll

do it but could Atlas take the earth and

sky back for just a second while he gets

some padding for his shoulders and when

atlas agrees

Hercules grabs the apples and vamoose

Asst tricksters tricking tricksters are

they like that Mapple in these stories

we see that it often doesn't take much

for a trickster to figure out how to

fool the object of his trick sometimes

called a dupe often the dupe doesn't

really deserve it although it's hard to

feel sorry for Atlas who was attempting

some minor league tricks during himself

while tricksters can be seen as playful

scamp's they also show us that play can

be dangerous especially when like amount

see we let it go too far in the announce

II story the trickster acts as what

Leonard and mcore call a moral

counterexample tricksters are frequently

greedy and lazy dishonest and gluttonous

vain and impulsive thus they can be seen

as agents of chaos for society provides

the greatest advantages to the greatest

number only if everyone restrained his

or her impulses and cravings and makes

allowances for the needs of others we're

usually better off when we don't lie or

cheat each other but that's exactly what

tricksters do we're typically happy when

they're punished for their tricks but

this doesn't always happen

trickster stories can be especially

troubling because not only do they

usually get away with their tricks but

are often celebrated for it tricksters

aren't all bad though the trickster can

provide a model for the oppressed to

reclaim some autonomy in the face of

overwhelming power this is one of the

main lessons of the brayer rabbit

stories which are descended from African

trickster stories but transplanted into

the context of chattel slavery in

english-speaking North America brayer

can be seen as representing slaves who

would use their ingenuity to fort and

outsmart cruel plantation owners maybe

then it's worth asking what would happen

if the tricksters just always won and

the truth is while some tricks tourism

may be justified and a little bit of

transgression here and there is fun if

everyone decides that it's okay to beat

dwarves to death in order to double the

amount of rainfall metaphorically

speaking

that wouldn't be great trickster stories

are often morally ambiguous in this way

even Brer Rabbit isn't all

clearly the good guy and that one part

of why we like them so much maybe

sometimes it's simply a thrill to break

the rule we as human can see ourselves

pretty clearly in the trickster myths

it's hard to identify with someone who

can hold the world or who goes on

errands for the father of creation but

we've all at least tried our hand

bamboozling someone into taking over our

responsibility sorry - you're a good boy

thanks for watching we'll see everyone

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ego also came out ahead of the field

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