"No figure in literature, oral or written, baffles us quite as much as the trickster."

[loki]

“ No figure in literature, oral or written, baffles us quite as much as the trickster. He is positively identified with creative powers, often bringing such defining features of culture as fire or basic food, and yet constantly behaves in the most antisocial manner we can imagine. Although we laugh at him for his troubles and his foolishness and are embarrassed by his promiscuity, his creative cleverness amazes us and keeps alive the possibility of transcending the social restrictions we regularly encounter. ”

― Barbara Babcock-Abrahams, "A Tolerated Margin of Mess: The Trickster and his Tales Reconsidered," Journal of the Folklore Institute 11/3 (1975): 147

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