theminx
Your Friendly Neighborhood Minx. Grr! Meow.
An Animal Fable - Trickster Hero Style
The scorpion needs to cross the river, so he approaches the frog and asks for safe passage on her back. The frog is afraid she'll get stung, but the scorpion says this would be foolish, as the scorpion can't swim so if he stings the frog..
...they'll both die.
The Foxy Frog ponders this a few moments. Comes to a decision. Then tells the scorpion she'll be right back.
When she returns she has some gooey stuff she tells the scorpion he must consume before he's allowed to mount her back. The scorpion is wary, but agrees, as he can't think of a good reason not to. And then settles himself on the frog's back to begin the journey.
The frog starts to swim across the river and - just as the scorpion is about to sting her - the scorpion wavers, falling into a deep sleep.
The frog considers dumping the scorpion in the river, thinks better of it, and deposits the scorpion on the other side as promised.
The scorpion awakes, surprised to find both he and the frog still alive.
And he asks: "How...? Why...?"
The frog answers: "It may be in your nature to sting and kill, but it is in the nature of the trickster heroine to find another way. A better way."
She smiles widely, then bounds off back across the river to live another day.
And the scorpion lives to tell the tale of the Foxy Frog who survived the scorpion's sting, the essence of his nature.
Addendum:
Just cuz something is dangerous, it doesn't mean it's necessary to avoid it...for fear it might sting you...if you're tricky enough to find a better way.
Nietzsche tells us: He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for too long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Often a story's heroine (as well as its hero) is forced to become what she hates (imbue herself with the essence of her enemy...use the enemy's tactics against him or her, to beat them), but the trickster is different; she beats her enemy without needing to become like them to do so.
And by doing so, her enemies (or anyone who wishes her harm) will become even more wary of the trickster than of the scorpion...
...cuz she found another way.
A better way...
...to survive the scorpion's nature.
In a manner that is win/win, as neither party was hurt.
But also keep in mind...not "everybody" will be wary of a foxy frog...capable of surviving the scorpion. Only those who wish her harm. Others will flock to her for help. And many will see her tricksy nature as a challenge, cuz...the audacity of such a foxy frog...!
Her enemies will not like the idea of being outsmarted.
And the game (life) likely will adapt accordingly.
But that's okay, cuz like what the Joker says in the Dark Knight:
That which does not kill us...merely makes us...
....stranger.
Or it is like the Kobayashi Maru, which is a training exercise in the Star Trek universe. The test is a sorta Catch 22, meant to denote a no-win scenario designed to test a cadet's character, but is referenced on the series when a solution is needed that involves redefining a problem, which appears (at least on the surface) to be a no-win situation.
Captain James T. Kirk is the only cadet to ever having beaten the test, but he did so by cheating...and won an award for original thinking.
Which is why I like the Archetypal Trickster Hero or Heroine.
The Trickster is the kinda hero who finds another way, tending to maneuver outside what is conventionally considered either right or wrong. They do not acknowledge the rules or limitations set by society. They do not accept the concept there are only winners or losers. Right or wrong. Good or bad. Leader and followers. Dominant and subdued (i.e. submissive).
So, if there are only two options available, then the trickster will devise a third. Because, to their way of thinking: there is always another course or action.
There are the leaders: those in control. And the followers: those who submit to this control. Then there are those who prefer to choose another path.
The scorpion needs to cross the river, so he approaches the frog and asks for safe passage on her back. The frog is afraid she'll get stung, but the scorpion says this would be foolish, as the scorpion can't swim so if he stings the frog..
...they'll both die.
The Foxy Frog ponders this a few moments. Comes to a decision. Then tells the scorpion she'll be right back.
When she returns she has some gooey stuff she tells the scorpion he must consume before he's allowed to mount her back. The scorpion is wary, but agrees, as he can't think of a good reason not to. And then settles himself on the frog's back to begin the journey.
The frog starts to swim across the river and - just as the scorpion is about to sting her - the scorpion wavers, falling into a deep sleep.
The frog considers dumping the scorpion in the river, thinks better of it, and deposits the scorpion on the other side as promised.
The scorpion awakes, surprised to find both he and the frog still alive.
And he asks: "How...? Why...?"
The frog answers: "It may be in your nature to sting and kill, but it is in the nature of the trickster heroine to find another way. A better way."
She smiles widely, then bounds off back across the river to live another day.
And the scorpion lives to tell the tale of the Foxy Frog who survived the scorpion's sting, the essence of his nature.
Addendum:
Just cuz something is dangerous, it doesn't mean it's necessary to avoid it...for fear it might sting you...if you're tricky enough to find a better way.
Nietzsche tells us: He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for too long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Often a story's heroine (as well as its hero) is forced to become what she hates (imbue herself with the essence of her enemy...use the enemy's tactics against him or her, to beat them), but the trickster is different; she beats her enemy without needing to become like them to do so.
And by doing so, her enemies (or anyone who wishes her harm) will become even more wary of the trickster than of the scorpion...
...cuz she found another way.
A better way...
...to survive the scorpion's nature.
In a manner that is win/win, as neither party was hurt.
But also keep in mind...not "everybody" will be wary of a foxy frog...capable of surviving the scorpion. Only those who wish her harm. Others will flock to her for help. And many will see her tricksy nature as a challenge, cuz...the audacity of such a foxy frog...!
Her enemies will not like the idea of being outsmarted.
And the game (life) likely will adapt accordingly.
But that's okay, cuz like what the Joker says in the Dark Knight:
That which does not kill us...merely makes us...
....stranger.
Or it is like the Kobayashi Maru, which is a training exercise in the Star Trek universe. The test is a sorta Catch 22, meant to denote a no-win scenario designed to test a cadet's character, but is referenced on the series when a solution is needed that involves redefining a problem, which appears (at least on the surface) to be a no-win situation.
Captain James T. Kirk is the only cadet to ever having beaten the test, but he did so by cheating...and won an award for original thinking.
Which is why I like the Archetypal Trickster Hero or Heroine.
The Trickster is the kinda hero who finds another way, tending to maneuver outside what is conventionally considered either right or wrong. They do not acknowledge the rules or limitations set by society. They do not accept the concept there are only winners or losers. Right or wrong. Good or bad. Leader and followers. Dominant and subdued (i.e. submissive).
So, if there are only two options available, then the trickster will devise a third. Because, to their way of thinking: there is always another course or action.
There are the leaders: those in control. And the followers: those who submit to this control. Then there are those who prefer to choose another path.
