Tricksters have been common in world myths throughout history. They often bedevil their more serious brethren and mankind. They also provide lessons on how not to take yourself so seriously. And in rare cases, are essential in creation and the survival of human kind. Below are just two of my favorites.
Ananze - The Spider Storyteller, Ananse is responsible for many of the stories that have been handed down from West African and eventually West Indian traditions. A few of these have been re-translated by american slave cultures into familiar tales, most notably the tales of Uncle Remus's Brer Rabbit. But first and foremost Ananse is a spider, and a cunning one. And like most tricksters he was eternally horny. He even seduced the Sky God's daughter.
A few of Anase's tricks:
The Sky God's Challenge - When the Sky God (probably still pissed because Ananse seduced his daughter) insisted Ananse bring back something from Earth but wouldn't tell him what. Ananse tricked him into revealing it was the darkness, the moon,and the sun. Ananse brought darkness out of a gunny sack and no one could see anything. Then he brought out the moon and they could see a little. When he brought out the sun many of the animals were blinded by its glare. Thus Ananse invented blindness.
The Sticky Doll - Ananse tricked the High God Nyame (who never let any stories be told. He was a bit of a dick.) into letting Ananse be the the keeper and teller of all stories by capturing a fairy and bringing it to the High God. He painted a doll with sticky sap and set it in a meadow where fairies liked to dance.The doll had sitting in its lap some yam mash. A fairy came along and asked if he could have some of the mash. Ananse made the doll's head nod. When the fairy tasted the mash, he thanked the doll, who said nothing. The fairy was insulted and slapped the doll - his hand stuck. Thus Ananse brought the captured fairy to Nyame, who put Ananse in charge of stories. And thus stories were shared with the world. And yes this is the basis for the Brer Rabbit story, 'The Tar Baby'.
Coyote - Inventor of Death. Because coyotes can be found throughout most of North America the Coyote Trickster is a staple of many of the plains and mountain tribes. Bored with the perfection of creation (people never got sick, never grew old, food was plentiful), Coyote tried his own hand at creating beings, who turned out only absurd and funny looking. This cracked up Coyote who laughed so loud he attracted the Attention of the Earth-Initiate, who had created the heavens and the Earth. When told that laughing at his poor wretches was rude, he denied doing it and thus invented lying. Then he approached the happy people of the world and convinced them that sickness, death, and competition were the best things ever (tricksters always have the gift of gab). Unfortunately, the first being to die was Coyote's own son. Thus weeping was invented.
More phobias, you say? But of course. Let's see what we can dig up.
Let's begin with a pair that Vampires might ascribe to:
Esophobia - Fear of Daylight.
Staurophobia - Fear of Crosses
And now a couple that I'm not really sure what they are. I'd love an explanation, dear reader, so if you know leave me a comment.
Walloonophobia - You guessed it, Fear of Walloons
Here's one that both delights me and puzzles me. Zemmiphobia - Fear of the Great Mole Rat. Really? This sounds like something a tribe in New Guinea might worship. "Oh Great Mole Rat, hear my prayer."
As a mathematician, I object to this next one most strenuously. Octophobia - Fear of the Number 8. Several questions come to mind, beginning with WHY?
Compared to Octophobia, the next few make some semblance of sense.
Pteronophobia - Fear of Being Tickled by a Feather. I know what you're thinking. "That wouldn't be so bad." But when I think about it I'm always tied naked to a chair. Oh, did I reveal too much?
Myxophobia - Fear of Slime. I mean come on, slime for pete's sake. The stuff is gooey, and drips from your face and is so hard to get off your pajamas.
Enosiophobia - Fear of Having Committed Some Unpardonable Sin. I'm not the only one that has this one, am I?
And now a few that just make me go Hmmmmmm.
Levophobia - Fear of the Left Side of Your Body. In an earlier post we discussed Dextrophobia - Fear of the Right Side of Your Body. So if you had that one and Levophobia you really would have nowhere to turn. Oh my God, I really am clever.
Linonophobia - Fear of String. If you're like me, you're sad for kitties who have this one. And maybe kite flyers. How about String Theorists?
Peladophobia - Fear of Bald People. For reasons I don't think I have to mention, I hope I don't get this one. I could never look in a mirror again.
For this last one, I want you to imagine a world where everyone has a Fear of Names. We wouldn't name our children. We address one another as "Hey you!". What would they put on our driver's licenses? I could go on and on, but you get the picture (oh yeah, that's what they'd put on our driver's licenses). This one's called Nomatophobia. Okay, one more. There would be no Alex Trebeck.
Goodbye for now. Be well and fear not.
Here we are again at the intersection of Allshookup Avenue and Wetmypants Lane. And by that I mean another round of phobias. I scream, you scream, we all scream. Things that frighten, give you the jitters, make you nervous, possibly terrify, and most certainly leave you with a queasy feeling in your tum tum. Sooooooo, here we go.
I love this one - Omphalophobia - Fear of Belly Buttons. I want to know just how many people walk into a psychiatrist's office and say, "My navel creeps me out!"
I also wonder if these might be people who also have Proctophobia - Fear of Rectums. I'm thinking folks who have Omphalaphobia and Proctophobia are screwed coming and going. Oooh, I'm so clever.
Speaking of Phobias, that would be bad to have in pairs, consider - Microphobia (Fear of Small Things) and Megalophobia, wait for it, (Fear of Large Things). If someone was afflicted with this pair they'd have to go through life ordering the medium size coffee (That's Grande at Starbucks). And of course, they would be fans of Baby Bear - not too big, not too small, but just right.
As bad as the last pair was, they're nothing compared to this next divergent grouping. Imagine having Medorthophobia (Fear of having an Erect Penis) coupled with Medomalacuphobia (Fear of Losing an Erect Penis). The only joke I can think of starts with the words, "On the one hand.....
Well, enough of these weird phobias. Let's get back to something sensible - Lutraphobia - Fear of Otters.
And another sensible one - Pogonophobia - Fear of Beards
I will leave you with a phobia whose name makes so much sense that I'm surprised that it's not an everyday word. I'm talking about Fear of Long Words. Drum roll please: Hippopitomonstrosequipedaliophobia.
And with that I say good night to all and to all a good night. Ho Ho Ho.
I don't know about you but I have always been fascinated by Phobias. I have a few of my own, which I won't admit to at this time. However, this list is purely for fun. I have found some of what I consider peculiar fears. So without further ado. some phobias for you.
Here's one that seems to be on the rise. Coulrophobia - Fear of Clowns. Now you have a name for it.
I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that most vampires have this fear - Alliumophobia - Fear of Garlic.
Here's an interesting one and I think I might have this just a little bit - Automatonophobia - Fear of ventriloquist dummies.
I love this one - Alektorophobia - Fear of Chickens.
Here is a trio that seem to be math related.
Apeirophobia - Fear of Infinity
Asymmetriphobia - Fear of Asymmetric Things: I think Sheldon on Big Bang Theory has this.
Baraphobia - Fear of Gravity
Here's another one that made me smile - Consecotaleophobia - Fear of Chopsticks
Here's one that made me scratch my head - Dextrophobia - Fear of the Right Side of Your Body. How the heck do you get away from this one?
How about the Fear of Newts? - Batrachophobia
Here's one I can kind of understand - Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of Peanut Butter Getting Stuck to the Roof of your Mouth!!
And that's all for now. Stay tuned - or better yet, follow this blog - for more of what scares you. Merry Christmas. Unless you're afraid of that.
Cartoon Steeds
Bullseye - Toy Horse companion of Woody the Cowboy in Pixar's Toy Story
Pokey - Stretchy horse belonging to equally stretchy cartoon character Gumby.
Horse - Equine friend of the pride of the Canadian Mounted Police, Dudley Do Right
Quickdraw McGraw - With his faithful donkey companion Baba Looey, Quickdraw rounded up lawbreakers in the old west. Quickdraw also had a secret identity, the guitar wielding vigilante El Kabong, who would whack wrongdoers with a Flamenco guitar. Like Baba Looey was fond of saying, "Quickdraw has a lot upstairs, no brains, just an empty lot."
Maximus - The war horse that makes an uneasy alliance with Rapunzel and her thieving companion Flynn. Incredibly self-righteous, Maximus seems bent on bringing the thief to justice.
Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron - Free and hell-bent on staying that way, Spirit hangs tough in the face of a relentless cavalry officer who wants to break..well, his spirit. In the end, the horse not only frees himself but a captured Indian boy.
Comet - Supergirl's super horse. Once a centaur, Biron of Greece was a friend of the sorceress Circe. Having saved her life, Circe wanted to reward him by turning him human but the spell was fouled and he became totally a horse. Circe tried to undo at least part of the damage by giving him super-powers and making him immortal. Biron does turn human when a certain comet passes near Earth. Then he becomes 'Bronco' Billy' a rodeo rider.
Captain - In 101 Dalmatians, Captain is part of a quasi-military group of animals who aid in the search for the kidnapped puppies. In the end, they foil the evil plans of Cruella DeVille and her henchmen.
Boxer - In Animal Farm, Boxer, a loyal and powerful Morgan, supports Napolean, the pig in all his endeavors to change the farm from being run by humans to being sustained by animals. In the end, however, Napolean betrays him and sells him to the glue factory.
Nightmare - Belonging to Casper the Friendly Ghost, Nightmare is naturally a ghost horse. Casper, who really doesn't need a horse since he can fly, is often seen riding nightmare when in the company of Wendy the Good Little Witch - when she is riding her broom.
Hindu - In the beginning there was a marvelous gold cosmic egg created by Dyaus, The Sky Father and Prithvi, The Earth Mother. From this egg comes Purusha, their son, who is immediately sacrificed and dismembered so his body can be the stuff of creation - his blood the rivers and lakes, his hair the plants, his bones the mountains. Once a place is established, man and woman are created but the woman, who considers herself the man's sister is fearful of incest, so she runs away and becomes a series of animals. Unfortunately for her, in each incarnation she is captured and mated with by the man. Thus all the species of animals are born. Finally, she relents and the human race is brought into being.
China - The Pangu Myth - In the beginning there was chaos and into this chaos emerged a great cosmic egg with the super-god Pangu inside. Pangu was cramped in the egg and eventually smashed his way out. His first act was to create the heavens and the Earth out of the stuff of chaos. Potent as he was, Pangu was not immortal and when he died, his body was transformed into the rest of the universe: His eyes became the sun and the moon, His blood rivers, His voice thunder, His hair all the plants. Before even the cosmic egg there existed the great Goddess Nuwa. When she saw all that Pangu had created, she decided to make humans. Now even back then there was a pecking order. Nobles were created from pure clay but to make the ordinary people she dragged a rope through mud then shook it. Each drop of mud became an ordinary person.
Okay, here's the deal. Pretty much all the villains in graphic novel land are fierce. For the past decade the bar has been raised with regard to what a bad guy will do. Out and out murder - Carnage. The deaths of millions - The Watchmen. Infecting poor victims with diseases. Stealing their souls. The villains below, though, have caught my attention for particular nastiness. But if you're like me, you like to be shocked, and sometimes scared out of your socks.
Marvel
Look at these guys. They are uuuuugly!!
Carnage and Venom- These Spiderman villains are basically brothers. Here's the skinny. It all begins with a black Spiderman suit that's well...alive. For a time Spidey himself wore this living costume and he got stronger but also all weird. To make a long story short, Spidey discarded the bad suit and it crawled onto Eddie Brock who became Venom. While Venom was bad enough, like a suped-up, long-tongued, razor-toothed Spiderman on steroids who occasionally ate his victims, Carnage was a whole lot worse. Already a psychopath, Cletus Kasady, had no interest in world domination or even robbing banks. He only wanted to kill and his new red duds - a portion of Venom's living costume - allowed him to do just. They projected blades and strangling ropes the way Spiderman's projected webs. In the end, although it was out of character for him, Spiderman was forced to go along with the killing of Carnage. Unfortunately, Venom is still hanging around and still bat-shit loony.
Don't mind me. I'm just here to eat your world.
Galactus - This dude's aliases tell it all: Devourer of Worlds, Destroyer of Civilizations, or just plain Planet Eater. Once a regular guy in the universe that preceded ours, Galen is the last remnant of that universe. You could say he was altered in the final cosmic blast. After sleeping for God knows for how long he awoke a cosmic vampire who not only must consume worlds to live but these worlds have to have a good sized population to be tasty. Together with his herald, The Silver Surfer, he travels the cosmos in a space ship the size of a solar system. The routine is as follows. Silver Surfer - yes he's silver and yes he zooms into the stratosphere on a surf board - warns everybody that their days are numbered and there's not a whole lot they can do about it. Then after a time, where the inhabitants weep and rend their clothing, Galactus blasts the planet with some energy doohickey and gobbles up the pieces. Of course, he would eventually set his sights on Earth. That goes without saying.
Let me get this out of the way. Growing up I was a whole lot more afraid of monsters who were, shall we say, intimate. Monsters, like the Wolfman or a vampire, who would single you out for their monstering. Giant things, like building-sized spiders, might step right over you and not notice you at all. At least that was my reasoning.
Our next weirdo, Eclipso is of the former kind. He just looks like someone you would come upon and he would do you personal hurt and for no better reason than that was his nature. Here's what he looks like:
Kind of a hyper-Joker (just as nuts but with a buttload of extra abilities) with a weird mission in life. Let me lay this bad guy out for you. First of all he possesses people, takes over their bodies. I hate that. No thank you. Please leave my mind and body alone. Next he hates light, so he wants to destroy the sun (thus the name Eclipso) or at least blot out its light. Personally, I think this is a bad idea. I like the sun and I think we'd all be worse off without it. I'm leaving out all his super powers - and he has a bunch of 'em - for a last look at another of his penchants. Long ago a crystal called The Heart of Darkness exploded and its pieces flew all over the world - were talking hundreds of pretty dark diamond-looking shards. So imagine yourself walking along a mountain road and you come across one of these pretty rocks and you pick it up. You are now marked for death. And who is your executioner - wait for it - Eclipso. Just for picking up a rock. That hardly seems fair.
Next up Abomination (is that a name or what?), Thanos, and...well you'll just have to see.
