Gods & Monsters: Divine Trickery, Friday, Second Period.

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"There's no creature more commonly known to be a trickster than a fox, regardless of culture," Constantine drawled as class started. "Kuma Lisa, the kitsune, the pale fox of the Dogon people, Aesop's tales...the list is vast. We call people cunning or clever as a fox when we agree with what they do, sly as one when we don't, call women 'vixens' if they're tricky... hell. Reynard is such an iconic trickster fox in France, that renard became the standard French word for 'fox', replacing the previous term, goupil, from the Latin vulpecula."

"Which, not surprising. Reynard has an ego and probably instigated the change himself, the preening bugger."

"So what is it that makes us think of the fox as the ultimate in trickery? Sure, they're murder on a chicken population, but what elevates them to a mythological status? Why do we not only tell tales about them, but aspire to be like them? Our stories and dreams shape reality in more ways than you suspect--" yes, Del, he was shooting you an amused glance. "--so why do we empower the fox over other animals as a trickster?"

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Foxy!

During the Lecture

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Short as it is!

Story time!

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"Take Tokutaro, for instance, poor bastard. Skeptical about the kitsune’s magical abilities, Tokutaro agreed to a bet with his friends to spend the night in an area where kitsune are reported to be seen. On the way there, he sees one rush past him and then immediately afterwards sees a young woman he knows, who says she is travelling to a nearby village. Instantly suspicious, and continuing to look at her backside 'for a tail,' Tokutaro accompanies her, and when her parents are confused by her visit he convinces them she is really a kitsune in disguise. Tokutaro then tries to get her to return to her kitsune form by beating her and eventually burning her alive, much to the horror of her parents, who then try to kill him for murdering their daughter. A passing priest intervenes and decrees that Tokutaro shall also become a priest to repent for his crime forever. Tokutaro’s head is shaved… and then he wakes up alone on the moor to the sound of retreating laughter and the barking of foxes. He is left wondering whether the kitsune caused him to hallucinate his awful crime or if it actually did happen, since his head is indeed bald. Either way, he lost the bet, and his friends gave him plenty of shit for it."

"So desperate to prove that foxes have no power, he was willing to kill a girl to make her prove she did have power. Instead, he woke up shamed with a bald head, and the knowledge that yes, he could be a murderer."

"What did the kitsune gain from this trick? What did Tokutaro lose, or gain? What does this make you think about kitsune in general, or foxes as a whole?"

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