Myths of the Gods: The Trickster

When it comes to myhts, one of the funniest and most important type of person throughout all time has been the person who is a trickster. As someone who looks to have fun and crack jokes, but also get his way with things, he usually is hard to trust. There are many different types of tricksters but my favorite one in the reading was Legba, a myth of a trickster fro the Fon tribe of West Africa. In the tale, Legba was like God's right hand man and would do all the orders that God commanded him to do. This would lead to Legba getting a lot of hate from people all around the world. The myth says that one day Legba got tired of the hate and asked God why he has to get much hate. God went on to say that he is the greatest and his servants are known for evil. Legba being God's best helper feels like he hs not been treated the with the respect that he believes he earned. This is similar to many situations either in family, relationships or business where someone is not given the credit that is deserved. Legba being the trickster that he is, tricks everyone into believing God had been stealing from the garden, this then leads to God leaving and going to Heaven. Legba was my favorite trickster due to how he got so close to his enemy, that God had no idea he could trick him. As far as it goes for this story, I believe that Legba was given these powers to become a trickster and be wise enough to trick those that he knows as a gift but also a punishment. Lebga although being in the best position that he could have been, which was with God making sure that he protects the most important person during his time and most likely, throughout all time. It is usual for a trickster to turn their back on those who think are friends with him to try and get the upper hand. Legba in a chance to incriminate God and finally get his credit, tries to make sure that his fellow people around the city know that he is the one that has been doing the things for them and that they should not be giving the credit to God. Similar to my essay, I am relating the stories and myths to Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender. Similar to Legba, he is someone who could be very wise but also a funny individual that can have fun at all times. I will definitely be including Legba in my essay as a way to relate Aang and his characteristics and how they relate and are both apart of the trickster community. Tricksters according to history has always been the individual that has not been taken serious at all times but always ends up with the upper hand.


Comments

  1. Andres GutierrezApril 3, 2019 at 9:01 PM

    While reading about the other tricksters in the reading this trickster does sound very favorable. I also find this idea of Legba being so close to his enemy to make the god believe he's his friend. If I would choose a favorite trickster it would be Loki. It would be Loki because he can change to the opposite sex, and he can change his shape. I feel like that the greatest trickery move a trickster can ever do. Loki is able to get away with situations that he puts himself into because he does that intentionally. My second choice of a trickster would be Hermes. Hermes would be my second choice because he entertains the gods with his comedy.

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  2. Kobe SiyApril 4, 2019 at 5:41 PM

    Reading about "The Trickster" was kind of fun to read about. I was reading about Loki and what really impressed me about Loki was the fact that he was able to changes genders and skin colors, to get whatever he wants. It was interesting to learn about your favorite, Legba, and him tricking God which resulted in him going to Heaven.

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  3. 114b myth blogApril 4, 2019 at 11:09 PM

    I agree with you on how you described the trickster, they are usually up to no good and just want to fool others. The myth that includes Legba is really interesting because of how he was able to perform a trick on his own god. The stories about the tricksters were interesting because it said that they can transform in mostly anything they want and with that they can prank multiple people
    -Marco Ponce

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