Hi, I'm Mike Rugnetta, this is Crash Course Mythology, and today
we're finishing up our series on trickster stories
by looking at two of the most famous and popular
tricksters of them all, coyote and
raven. There are many individual Native American
mythological traditions from different tribes
and in different regions and stories about
coyotes and ravens as grand tricksters
pop up in tales across the whole continent.
In many locations these animals would have been known for making
off with livestock, or picking at the bodies of dead
animals. While scavenging isn't exactly clever in the way
tricksters often are it is sort of...
devious, which explains the wealth of trickster myths
about these two figures. We're gonna focus on a few
of the best of them. And along the way we'll see that sometimes playing a few tricks
can really put a twinkle in your eye. Or,
make it pink.
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Before I get into the specific myths,
I should explain something
about the content and context of some of these
coyote and raven stories. We've already mentioned that
in many Native American myths, the line between the human world
and animal world is blurry. Humans live alongside
mythological animals that help create the world
and establish important rituals.
This handling of mythological animals
is distinct from say,
the pantheon of gods and monsters that we see
in Norse, Greek, or egyptian traditions.
Those traditions have myths about animals, it's true.
But they aren't the stars of the show, in the way
that they are in Native American myths
I also just want to say, up front that the myths we're about to discuss
aren't exactly...
G-rated.
Some scholars have pointed out that many Native American myths
feature particularly frank discussions of Sexy-Time
and the organs that are used to accomplish it.
Thoth, buddy. There's no need to blush.
and also they talk a lot about the elimination of...
bodily wastes.
so long story short we're going to talk about poop
One day, Coyote is out walking and he sees some tasty looking, bright red rose-hips
He's about to gobble them up
when those rose-hips, that can talk, bt - dubbs,
worn Coyote that, if gobbled
they're gonna' give him horrible flatulence
But Coyote doesn't listen so
CHOMP
And wouldn't you know it, soon Coyote is stumbling around
doubled over in pain from a rather intense and alarming build-up of gas.
At about this time, Coyote happens across two crows picking over
a dead buffalo. Devising a plan, Coyote
asks if they want to play a game. Which,
I mean of course they do! Who doesn't love a game?!
Coyote proposes a contest to see
who can defecate
from one side of the buffalo to the other. Whoever is able to launch their poop
over the buffalo, gets to keep it
and eat it. The buffalo, I mean, not the poop.
I'm not sure who get's that - anyway, the crows
think that this is disgusting, and hey, samesies.
But Coyote is very persuasive
and the contest begins. The crow goes first.
He turns around and he poops as hard as he can,
but only manages to "poop - shoot" halfway.
Coyote, now fit to BURST
with rose hip's gas, turns around,
relaxes, and let's just
say, he wins the contest - easily.
The crows cannot believe their eyes.
They beg Coyote to let them have SOME
of the buffalo meat. In an uncharacteristic bit of trickster compassion,
Coyote is no Anansi,
He agrees to give them the fat around the eye sockets and the joints
and the ribs,
*weird groan*
Stan, maybe cancel my lunch order?
OK, according to Lenard McClure, the moral of the story is
I might say the moral is also don't eat
rose hips, don't poop competitively, but maybe even with gastrointestinal
crisis, there can be found... great opportunity?
At least, if you have your tricky cap on?
Aww, Thoth, is that your tricky cap?
Looks good. This story also shows an important similarity
Coyote shares with the tricksters of other mythological traditions.
He is unable to resist giving in to his outside
hedonistic desires. Remember hungry Hermes
and greedy Anansi? The entire poop
shot-put is a result of Coyote munching
down on tasty looking rose hips even though
he knows it's a bad idea. Not all of Coyote's desires are
quite so... digestion oriented, of course.
There are a number of stories that involve his sexual appetites.
And in many Native American stories, the trickster's desire for
sex is interpreted as a mirror for the rest of
humanity. A recognition that most of us have
similar drives. As our old friends Lenard and McClure
put it, "...The Native American's
trickster reminds us like no other that humans, for all their pretensions
to intellectual and spiritual culture and for
all their moments of bravery, altruism, and generosity,
are nevertheless animals ruled by appetites
and impulses that make them
equally capable of cowardice, selfishness, and cruelty."
We're not gonna' focus on
those "sexy" stories, though,
this is a family friendly series
Well, except for all the death...
and the incest, oh, and the castration,
OK - you know what? Let's just move on. Coyote like other tricksters is
creative, and on occasion, even helpful.
In one story, from the Wasco people of the Pacific Northwest,
Coyote even helps place stars in the sky.
Let's go to the Thought Bubble. One day, Coyote sees
several of his wolf buddies looking up at the sky.
He asks what their looking at. "Nothing," they tell him.
The next night, they see him looking up at the sky again and asks again
Finally, the youngest wolf says," ah
Let's tell 'em, he won't do anything,"
which, I mean, had they not met Coyote?
the wolves tell him they are watching two mysterious animals
up in the sky. Ever curious, Coyote suggests,
" Let's go hang out with them." Coyote starts shooting arrows
in to the sky and his aim is so good that
each arrow hits the last one, creating a ladder of
ladder of arrows from earth to sky. Coyote and the wolves
climb up the arrow ladder which takes many
days and nights, but when they finally reach their
destination, they find that the two animals
are grizzly bears. Coyote warns the wolves
to not go near the bears but the two youngest wolves
walk over and sit down. Then, the two
next youngest wolves do the same. Finally, seeing
that it's safe, the oldest wolf goes over, and takes
a seat. I guess sky bears are pretty chill! Admiring
the wolves and the bears, Coyote says
So Coyote leaves, taking the arrows with him
as he returns to earth. And from there, he admires
his handiwork, which you can still see today.
Four wolves, make up the handle of the Big Dipper
the youngest two wolves and the bears
make up its bowl. So I guess Coyote was right! Here we are
telling his story. Thanks ThoughtBubble
this story is a great example of the trickster as
creator. The wolves, were probably pretty
unhappy about being stranded in the sky with bears, but
people sure do love constellations
In this story there's also something we haven't really
discussed about tricksters, or myths generally
the desire to be remembered.
Coyote leaves no doubt, when he finishes stranding those wolves
he calls to Meadowlark and says
Here at Crash Course we define myths as stories
that persist through time. In our forthcoming
episodes about heroes, we'll see that the desire
for fame; to be remembered through timeless
tales, often motivates
heroic deeds. We could tell stories about Coyote
all day, but there's another famous trickster in Native American myths:
Raven. No, not that Raven,
not that one either, come on you gu- yeah. That one, bingo, you got it.
Raven's stories are common with the Native American Peoples of the Pacific North-West,
including Canada and Alaska.
This one was recorded in English at Sitka, a
small city in Alaska, and it starts like so. Have you ever
wondered why ravens are black?
A very long time ago, Raven, the trickster, was
actually stark white. And one day,
he's journeying to visit his brother-in-law, Petrel
the sea-bird who has an everlasting spring
of water. At the time, there wasn't any
water to drink, because Petrel kept his spring for himself
and he wouldn't share it. So Raven comes to Petrel, and
he tells him about all of the marvelous things that
he's seen throughout the world, trying to get Petrel to leave
his home so that Raven can steal some of his water.
But Petrel doesn't trust Raven
which is maybe a good call, and he won't budge.
When the night falls, Raven and Petrel go to bed. Once
is sure Petrel is asleep, he creeps outside
and finds some dog poo. Yeah, it's gonna be that kind of story.
He sneaks back in and he spreads the poo
all over Petrel's clothing. And the next morning Raven wakes
Petrel up by crying, "Wake up! Wake up brother-in-law,
look what you've done to your clothes!"
and just real quick aside here: i wanna point out that we're super unsure about
what "bird clothes" are. Pants? a Dicky maybe?
wait
are these birds with arms? Anyway, Petrel goes outside to clean himself up,
and Raven goes over to the spring, uncovers it,
and begins to drink. Just as Raven has slurped up
almost all of the water, Petrel returns
realises he's been tricked, and angrily chases
Raven away. Raven flies through the smoke-hole
in Petrel's house with the water in his mouth, and Petrel calls
out to his spirits to catch him.
As Raven is caught by the spirits, Petrel throws pitchwood
onto his fire to make the smoke
turn black.While Raven struggles
to get away, the black smoke soaks into his
feathers, and I bet you can see where this is headed.
Now turned black, Raven struggles free without spilling
a single drop of water. But as he's flying
he tries to brush off some of the char and spills
some water over Nass, making up the Nass river.
He keeps flying and keeps fidgeting and keeps spilling water
over Stikine, Taku, Chilkat, and all the other rivers
even the small drops become creeks
So after just one poo-stained trick,
the world now has water, and Raven
has the pitch-black feathers that we know today.
As you can see, Raven and Coyote definitely spend their time
getting up to no good. Sometimes their tricks are premeditated,
but other times it's a matter of circumstance, often
poop related circumstance. And this reminds us that just because
you're powerful, supernatural even,
that doesn't mean you can escape being an animal,
with all the confusion, and danger, and bodily functions
that that entails. This sort of thing reiterates the
specific relationship in Native American culture between
humans, and the natural environment.
As Therry and Deviney put it:
So, even though Raven and Coyote pull tricks, that might seem
outrageous and a little gross, its hard to consider them
evil or detrimental to society
especially when their tricks end up creating something
the rest of us get to enjoy.
Thanks for watching, we'll see you next week.
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