ABSTRACT
Anthropological and ethnological accounts about the beliefs of archaic people since the beginnings abound in stories about a most particular figure. This figure, on the one hand, is a marginal outcast, derided as a good-for-nothing and an ignorant fool, but on the other hand is most respected and feared, considered as a culture hero, even a second founder of the world. According to Paul Radin, the trickster is one of the oldest and most universal figures of human culture, even a kind of speculum mentis. The figure can perhaps be best introduced through the highly unique way in which it is situated, in-between the human, the animal, and the divine; at any rate, hybrid and unreal, though effective in promoting transformation. In most folktales, all around the world, the trickster is represented in an animal form. Such animals prominently include the snake, the spider and the fox, but also the monkey, coyote, hare, and many others.
