loki | Entries tagged with norse mythology

Thor [right] and Loki's [left] journey to Jotunheim, from "Norse Myths" by Kevin Crossley-Holland [Illustrated by Gillian McClure 1992]

Thor said summer was the open season and he announced his plan of making a journey east to Utgard and flexing himself against the giants. "However few they are," he said, "they are too many."

"In Utgard," said Loki, "you'll need sharp wits."

"Sharp wits," repeated Thor seriously.

"And yours are as blunt as your hammer," said Loki, winking at Thor. "Why not take me?"

Thor ignored the insult and accepted the offer. "Evil creature: good companion," he said.

Loki's eyes gleamed, now brown, now green, now indigo. His scarred lips twisted into a wolfish smile.

"Tomorrow, then," said Thor.

(I wish modern retellings more often would accept that the reason Odin and Thor often travelled with Loki once upon a time, was because they LIKED him. He wasn't always unpleasant or angry or malevolent, even if he was That Guy who kept people on their toes by having a giggle at their expense.)

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Loki tricks Hod into killing Balder, from SÁM 66

Loki (center), guides the arm of the blind god Hod and tricks him into killing Balder with a shaft of mistletoe - from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript.

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Thorgal #32: La Bataille D'Asgard - G. Rosinski & Y. Sente

As told in myth, Sif gets her golden hair cut off by Loki as a prank. Thor, Sif's husband, is not impressed.

(I slept through most of my French classes at school so apologies for the crap translation:)

Sif: Aaah! But!? Who? Who are you? ...Loki! You! You dare?

Loki: Take it easy, sweetheart. You seemed to enjoy this moment of intimacy. It was well worth it for the hair I need to seduce a pretty goddess, who, so I'm told, has a weakness for... blond men.

Sif: Monster! Demon! When Thor learns what you did...!

Loki: I think he won't learn anything. Do you think he will forgive you for having confused him with another in his own bed? Hahahahaha! *leaves with hair*

Dwarf (to Sif): Mistress! Your husband is back! What will you do?!

Dwarf (to Thor): Have you had a good day, sir?

Thor (to dwarf): No.

Thor (to Sif): I'm not sure what's happening to me, but I had strange dreams. I was about to crush an upstart human. Then my forge suddenly disappeared. Unbalanced, I fell and knocked myself unconscious. And when I woke up, my shield was gone! I think...

Sif: I think you need comfort in the arms of your wife.

Thor: But... What did you do to your hair?

Sif: I noticed that my hair didn't have as much effect on you as it did in the early days. I am a woman. So... I tried something else. What do you think, hmm?

Thor: ...

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from "Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas" by Hamilton Wright Mabie [1908]

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From "Eight Days of Luke" by Diana Wynne Jones [1975]:

"Luke," he said, "I think those girls are stuck."

"Stuck?" Luke said vaguely. "Yes, I expect so. The stairs and the lift have gone. The roof's going in a minute."

The women round David saw the girls too, and began asking one another why somebody didn't do something. David took hold of Luke's elbow and shook him.

"Luke, could you stop this fire if you wanted?"

"Of course," said Luke, but his eyes were fixed on the heart of the building and he was not really attending.

"Then could you stop it now?" David said. "Those girls are going to be burnt."

Luke smiled absent-mindedly. "Little twits," he said. "They went to comb their hair first, then they panicked."

No doubt he was right. David thought they looked just that kind of girl. But it made no difference to the fact that they were hanging on to a chimney in a desperately narrow space between the flames and yelling for help. The firemen had put a ladder up against the next building, but there was clearly no chance of them reaching the girls.

"Luke," David said. "You can't bring the dead to life. Remember?"

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http://norsesauce.tumblr.com/

...So anyway, this tumblr, which is totally not mine by the way, has some handy links & downloads to books & comics & stuff about Norse mythology. Call it required reading for this course.

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"Loki into Salmon" by Kit 'scatterherz' Borzov (2003)

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TVTropes on myth!Loki:

Alternate Continuity:
♦ Was Loki imprisoned for killing Baldur, or was he imprisoned for calling the gods out on crap they were actually guilty of? Depends on which story you read.

Arch-Enemy:
♦ Loki and Heimdall. The very first story they costarred in set them against each other. Like Thor and Jormungand, they are also destined to kill each other in Ragnarok.
♦ Many adaptations (probably thanks to Marvel) tend to set up Thor and Loki as arch-enemies. While they butted heads once in a while (Sif's hair was certainly a Berserk Button for Thor), they were more friends than enemies, and often traveled together.

Cain and Abel:
♦ Thor and Loki become this in Christian retellings of Norse myths (while Loki was Odin's brother in the original myths) as well as in Marvel Comics.

Comedic Sociopathy:
♦ Whenever the gods need to put the blame on someone, they grab Loki and threaten him with torture and death if he doesn't put the situation right. Granted, often Loki was responsible for or at least involved in the thing that went awry in the first place, but still...

Exact Words:
♦ In one story, Loki makes a bet with some dwarves and offers them his head as a wager — an expression for "my head's weight in gold" — as his part of the bargain. When they win and claim his actual head, he argues that since they can't take that without also cutting his neck, the deal is void. The dwarves content themselves with sewing his lips together earning him the nickname Scarlip, and the scars remain in his various forms.

Face Heel Turn:
♦ While at the start of the Prose Edda, Loki is a Loveable Rogue / Lovable Traitor, by Ragnarök he is essentially the leader of the forces of darkness.

Fate Worse than Death:
♦ The gods can't kill Loki for what he did to Baldur on account of Odin having adopted him. Thus, they instead bind him in chains made from the entrails of his son, whom they murdered, and allow a snake to drip venom on his face for eternity. Loki's loyal wife Sigyn collects the venom in a bowl most of the time but she eventually has to empty it, allowing the venom to drip and causing him excruciating pain. His thrashing around caused earthquakes.

Gender Bender:
♦ Loki turned into a mare (and got pregnant!)

Groin Attack:
♦ Loki does this to himself when he's faced seemingly-impossible task of making Skadi laugh. He ties a rope to his own testicles, then ties the other end to the beard of a goat. Hilarity Ensues.

Heterosexual Life Partners:
♦ Thor and Loki, at least in some stories. In others, not so much.
♦ Odin and Loki, who are blood brothers.

Hijacked By Jesus:
♦ The story of Loki getting Baldur killed is Hijacked By Jesus. Originally (as shown in Poetic Edda), it was only hinted (in an insult of Frigg by Loki himself) that Loki was guilty. It was when he gravely insulted every single one of the gods they tied him down and fed him poison. The two stories were then merged and expanded by Snorri Sturluson to make Loki look like a Satan figure.
♦ Like Hel, Loki gets associated with Satan. In some myths, he's a contriver of trouble, a trickster, and a total jerkass, but still not all that bad of a guy as he saves the day a few times and once in a great while goes out of his way to be nice. In later, post-Christian stories, he's Handwaved as the cause of anything wicked, with no explanation as to why or how he'd managed it, and then he's the cause of the end of the world.

Homosexual Reproduction:
♦ Sleipnir is the biological child of Loki and a stallion called Svadilfari. Loki was shapeshifted into the form of a mare (a female horse) at the time. A mare who happened to be in heat, to lure away the stallion. However, getting pregnant had not been part of Loki's plans, and it owned him the nickname of "horse-mother".
♦ The unspecified number of children Odin and Njorth accuse Loki of bearing in the Lokasenna.

Hostage for MacGuffin:
♦ This one happened to Loki a lot, even at the hands of other gods, and caused - among other things, the cursing of Andvarinaut, the creation of Thor's hammer, and later on its theft. Thor even did it to Loki over a cute little prank Loki pulled on Thor's wife.

Noodle Incident:
♦ In the Lokasenna, Odin says Loki went around disguised as a milkmaid for awhile, and according to both Odin and Njorth, he's given birth to multiple children. It doesn't get any more elaborate than that.

Pet the Dog:
♦ In "Loka Táttur," after Odin and Honir fail to answer the prayers of a farmer to keep his child hidden from a bad-ass troll, they give up completely. Loki, ever the Determinator, succeeds in protecting the kid and slays the troll, and is rewarded by the boy's parents with a big hug. Awww.

Really Gets Around:
♦ Freya gets around with anyone, while Loki gets around with anything.

Slasher Smile:
♦ Some tellings comment that after having his lips un-sewn, Loki was left with a "Glasgow smile" which in "Loki is evil" stories serves as his Red Right Hand.

"The Reason You Suck" Speech:
♦ Loki delivers one of these to the Aesir in the Lokasenna. It does not end well for him.

With Friends Like These:
♦ You would think that, after a while, the Aesir would actually figure out that perhaps Loki could use some help. No wonder he turned against them eventually.

You Can't Fight Fate:
♦ Some retellings of Loki's role in Baldur's death use this to explain Loki's actions. After devouring the heart of a witch with the power of prophecy, he saw that he was destined to suffer a horrific punishment at the hands of the other gods before dying in Ragnarok. Since Loki knew You Can't Fight Fate, he figured he might as well do something to earn that punishment and make the other gods suffer.

Norse Mythology @ TVTropes

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U Mad, Odin? by Lokirulz (deviantArt)

Tricksters are the original trollolols.

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‘Don’t lie to me,’ he said softly, staring into Loki’s eyes. ‘I know exactly who you are. A named thing is a tamed thing. I hereby name you child of Chaos. I name you Keeper of the Fire.’

Loki sneered. ‘That’s rather vague …’

The pale young man showed his teeth. ‘Oh, I haven’t finished yet. I name you Sky Traveller, Farbauti’s son, Begetter of Serpents, Father of Wolves—’

‘Father of Wolves?’ Loki frowned. The words were beginning to take effect – words or Word, he did not know – although what a trio of boys of the Folk would be doing with one of the secret texts from the Book of Invocations he could not at present begin to guess.

The three were not members of the Order. Of that he could be certain, he thought. But the words alone were powerful. A named thing is a tamed thing. Not that they stood a snowball’s chance of actually taming Wildfire. But in his present Aspect, subject to all the weaknesses and imperfections of his human form, they could perhaps come painfully close.

‘Look here,’ said Loki, playing for time. ‘This really won’t get you anywhere. But if you’ll just tell me what you want, then maybe we can do a deal. I can get you anything – gold, weapons, runes – women …’

The hairier brother – the one called Big H – looked up at this with some interest. Loki guessed that the three of them hadn’t had much luck with women – not entirely surprising, he thought. Their social skills were hardly impressive, and one – or maybe all – of them smelled.

‘Women,’ he went on silkily. ‘Oh yes. I know ways to make you irresistible to the sweeter sex. I can teach you cantrips you wouldn’t believe – runes to melt an ice maiden’s heart. I swear, by the time I’ve finished with you, they’ll be queuing up halfway to the Ridings to see you. Redheads, blondes, brunettes – or if you like exotics and you’re not too worried about the progeny, then I know some demons who’ll blow your mind and spoon it up like ice cream—’

‘He can talk, can’t he?’ said Big H.

‘He sure can,’ grinned his friend.

The pallid youth ignored them both. He simply went on with the canticle as his two friends watched with eager eyes, nudging each other in suppressed excitement, and Loki felt what was left of his strength ebb slowly away into the dark.

‘I name you Trickster, Father of Lies. I name you sire of Half-Born Hel. I name you Fire-Bringer, Architect and Destroyer of Worlds. I name you Archangel, Fallen One, Opener of Forbidden Doors, builder of the Citadel. I name you Dogstar, Lighter-than-Air …’

Loki (semi-real) by *Sispal

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The Circle of Ostara - Loki (1996) [excerpt]:

...As the Dark Age progresses Loki gains strength in material powers but loses the love, the compassion, that alone can make the use of our technical ability an activity in harmony with nature and the Earth.

That we have allowed ourselves to become enslaved by the monstrous money system is Loki's doing. He has given us into their hands, he has become their servant. The powers behind this "system" have great cunning and tell powerful lies but their actual creative abilities are very limited. They can take over the technology created by others and use it to great destructive effect, but the ability to build such a technology themselves is lacking. Our abilities, our inventive genius, have been delivered up to them - by Loki. We have been enticed into a trap.

We can see the tale of Loki's Brood as a parable for our times, see Fenris Wolf as technology, a force that began as the gentle servant of man but which grew strong and ever stronger and difficult to control until now it breaks loose and seems poised to devour us. We can see the World Serpent, Jormungandr, as the great strangling system of international finance that controls all nations and all races, a system that Thor's Hammer must needs destroy if any race or nation is to survive the cataclysmic future, a destruction that will "shake the world". Loki is our enemy, an enemy that lies within ourselves. As a spirit of invention he was of wonderful benefit to us so long as we held true to the pattern of our racial destiny, so long as we maintained our love and reverence for nature and the Earth and lived close to the divine spirits of our people.

Loki is manfest in each of us and must be fought there - in our own minds and souls. We must take care not to be part of Loki's Brood. Many children of this god reveal themselves by truckling to the rulers of the system, by accepting its lies and manipulation, by living for pleasure alone and physical sensation, by refusing to take risks even when they recognise the enemy. The Hel-hags of "women's lib" are part of Loki's Brood and all the anti-life forces of homosexuality and the touters of abortion.

The Circle of Ostara is dedicated to the overthrow of Loki's Brood.

Source

This screed makes me ♥ Loki & his kids more than ever.

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'The Seduction of Svadilfari' by novablue at deviantArt

The Seduction of Svadilfari by novablue (dA)

I Kissed a Girl (Loki Remix) by Mikki Fraser
Parody of “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry

This was never the way I planned, not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand, lost my discretion
I couldn’t stop talking, while I was ahead
Now the gods tell me to get them out of this mess

I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
Save Freya, the sun and the moon
I fucked a horse, my diversion
Not just some new perversion

It felt too wrong to be alright
Hope I’m not a mom tonight
I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
I had to

So Svathilfari is your name, it doesn't matter
Know this is just to win a game, it’s not my nature
It's not what gods should do, not how they should behave
But my head gets pound in if I don’t obey

I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
Save Freya, the sun and the moon
I fucked a horse, my diversion
Not just some new perversion

It felt too wrong to be alright
Hope I’m not a mom tonight
I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
I had to

Us mares we are so magical
Soft fur, big eyes, so loveable
Hard to resist, so chase-able
Too good to deny it
It ain't no big deal, it's just business

I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
Save Freya, the sun and the moon
I fucked a horse, my diversion
Not just some new perversion

It felt too wrong to be alright
Hope I’m not a mom tonight
I fucked a horse ‘cause I had to
I had to

Source

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'Loki Good Loki Evil' by humon at deviantArt

truffalicious:

Loki Good Loki Evil by *humon

“A lot of people don’t realise this, but the texts we usually consider “canon” about the Nordic myths were actually written 200-300 years after the vikings, by Christians who put a christian spin on the stories.

Before the Christians people didn’t believe that warriors went to Valhalla and the sick/old/women/children to the underworld Hel. The vikings seem to have believed that everybody went to Hel, but Christians turned Valhalla into a kind of Heaven and Hel into Hell.

The jotuns (giants) didn’t seem to be evil either. There is evidence to suggest that people worshipped jotuns alongside the gods, and some even claimed to be related to jotuns. The gods ruled culture, and the jotuns nature. But the Christians were obsessed with the idea of good vs. evil, and turned the jotuns into devils.

And then there’s Loki. The few texts written by the vikings themselves never call Loki evil, just a trickster who acted first and thought later. Even the later christian texts can’t agree on how evil Loki was. For example, in two versions of Balder’s death Loki isn’t even mentioned, while he is the big evil mastermind behind it all in another. Christians wanted a Devil, and Loki was an easy pick.”

Nordic! Loki was my first love… And along came Hiddles! Loki, and everything was shot to hell.

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shadow-of-fenrir:

nathaelle:

The Cool Big Half Bro by ~Hellanim

This is so cute omfg

"Norse mythology theme again... Small Vali is introduced to his big older half brother Sleipnir."

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“ Ergi, like the adjective argr from which it is formed, has a strongly pejorative sense: it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that no other Norse word was able to provoke such violent feelings and reactions. According to the opinion of the time, the application to a man of the term argr (or its synonym by metathesis ragr) meant that he was 'unmanly' in various ways, and in particular that he was a coward and a homosexual.
[...]
If sexual perversion as such had been the object of contempt and moral disapprobation, the latter would surely have been expressed in the laws dealing with obscene libels. But this is not the case: rather it would seem that it is the feminine sexual role which makes the allegations of ergi particularly injurious and in fact intolerable for the recipient. This assumption is further supported by the fact that the Norwegian laws already mentioned include insults likening a man to a female animal (berendi) among the words liable to the highest personal recompense. to liken a man to a male animal cost only half as much (halfréttisorð). Accusing a man of having given birth to a child, i.e. of having performed an exclusively female sexual function, is added by the Gulathing Law to its list of 'full penalty words' (fullréttisorð) indicating the severest recompense to be paid.
[...]
In the mythological poetry we encounter comparable charges that a man has taken the shape of a woman. I am referring primarily to Lokasenna. When the gods reply to Loki's words of abuse they find effective points of attack in his mythical past. Three times it is said that he is argr and indeed the matter is well documented: at the dawn of time he mated in the guise of a mare with the stallion Svaðilfari. The fruit of that union is the horse Sleipnir, which thus has Loki as its mother.

It is therefore obvious that Loki is guilty of shameless ergi. ”

― ― "Níð, ergi and Old Norse moral attitudes" by Folke Ström (Med. / Fil.Dr, Biblioteksråd Gothenburg, 1973)

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victorialeealexander:

You know, if it weren't for Loki, neither mjolnir nor gungnir would exist.

Ungrateful fucking Aesir assholes.

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I don't even know which is the choicest part to quote from Better Myths' take on Loki's Quarrel, I <3 all of it like you don't even know:

so then this chick Ithun chimes in
like Loki seriously dude
this isn’t even clever
you’re just fucking yelling at dudes
and Loki is like
SLUT
and this chick Gefjun is like seriously everybody calm down
and Loki is like YOU FUCK LITTLE BOYS
and then Odin is like AMATEUR HOUR IS OVER PUSSPANTHERS
TIME FOR THE ALLFATHER TO RIP THIS MOTHERFUCKER UP
THIALFI
GIVE ME A BEAT
and Thialfi is all like BOOM PSH BOOM BOOM PSH wikiwiki
and Odin’s like YO
I KNOW THERE’S A LOT OF BAD BLOOD BETWEEN US
BUT I’M NOT EVEN SURE THAT YOU HAVE A PENIS
CAUSE I HEARD ABOUT HOW YOU FUCKED A HORSE
AND WHEN THE BABIES CAME OUT, YOUR HORSE-VAG WAS THE SOURCE
and all the gods are like OHHHHHH SNAPPPPPP
and loki’s like UH UH CHECK IT OUT
I’LL FUCK YOUR OTHER EYE OUT AND I’LL MAKE YOU MY BITCH
YO I HEARD YOU ONCE DESCENDED TO EARTH AS A WITCH
THAT WOULD SEEM TO PROVE THAT YOU LACK A DONG
EVEN THOUGH I’M TOTALLY LYING ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT
and then frigga is like this is pretty stupid
and Loki’s like YOU’RE A SLUT
and frigga is like bro if Baldur were here right now
and not dead
he’d totally whup you
and Loki’s like HAHA JOKE’S ON YOU
I’M THE DUDE WHO KILLED BALDUR
yeah that’s right
i’m so intent on ruining your party
I WILL WILLINGLY CONFESS TO MURDER
and Freyja is like dude are you seriously confessing to murder right now?
and Loki’s like LET’S PLAY FILL IN THE BLANK:
YOU’RE A SLUT
OH MAN I FORGOT TO PUT IN ANY BLANKS SORRY

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“Remember Tokk” by Einherjer (1988, Norway)

I am the one of battle’s reason
I left this world my mother’s corpse
I am the eyes and heart of treason
My lullabye the screams of horse
I am the haunting and the hurting
I read the walls of memory
I am the fist in the face of glory
I grow and my fire with me

Chorus:
Hark! Is that the battle’s horn?
Has Ragnarok been born?
Fire runs my passion burns
Love cries as death comes
Is that the frost and fire?
Giants of south and those up higher
Fire runs my passion burns
Fear breaks and chaos rules

I am the incarnation of all ages
I’ve seen it all and of reason
Some of you may trust in me
And some of you may know that;
Stones and earth swore an oath
As did iron and all kinds of ore
Some cried tears but Tokk did not
She did what she could why ask for more

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My children might be known to you
Some might even met them too
Guilt is mine in words not felt
Wisdom’s sons presence lack
Mother father which am I?
Ask my sons wolf or death
I will guarantee
This is not the last you’ve heard from me

I’ve felt the taste of poison
Water wet I breathe like air
I caused the earth to rumble
And soon the end of all you know
Some of you may recognize
My skills in lies and betrayal acts
The very same might find it strange
My brother is the wisdom’s face

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The Einherjer are those who died in battle and were brought to Valhalla by the Valkyries to prepare for battle at Ragnarok. Tokk was a giant woman who refused to weep for Baldur, ensuring he remained in Hel; it’s heavily implied in myth that Tokk was Loki shapeshifted (yeah, nice one Loki).

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There's a theory that Loki is associated from early nature myths with wildfire, from the fact that he is born of Fárbauti and Laufey. The name of Fárbauti, his father, means "dangerous striker" which could well mean lightning (or just warrior). The name of Laufey, his mother, means "leaves", and her other name, Nál, means "pine needles".

From what I understand, the association of Loki with fire is up for debate, especially as in the myths he fought fire personified, Logi, and lost; the association could possibly be a later Christian "Satanic" syncretisation/influence.

This is a good example of Loki interpreted/understood/simplified (for children) as an evil, fiery Satan-figure:

"New Trickster In Town" - The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (2005)

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“ The final myth of import in Saxo’s [Grammaticus] history does not involve Loki at all. It is a version of the death of Baldr in which Loki is not present. It entails a fight between Baldr and Hother (Hödr) over the maiden Nanna. Hother slays Baldr not with Mistletoe but with a magic sword won from a satyr. In this version Baldr is portrayed as wicked and dishonorable; Hother is noble, clever, valiant, and not blind as in Snorri’s [Prose Edda] version. Although the version is highly euhemerized [made into mortal ancient history], it does seem that Saxo is relating an alternative tradition in which Loki is not responsible for Baldr’s death. It may be that Saxo is relating a Danish version or it could mean that Snorri’s condemnation of Loki is not part of the original myth but a Christianized, dualistic addition. ”

― “Scar-Lip, Sky-Walker, and Mischief-Monger: The Norse God Loki as Trickster” by Shawn Christopher Krause-Loner (Miami University, Ohio US, 2003)

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