Pourquoi le trickster-culture hero fait-il rire ?

Regardless of the animal form he assumes, the trickster is the most popular mythical figure among indigenous North American peoples who often regard him as the most effective guarantor of their identity. Yet he appears as a ridiculous character, driven by his insatiable urges into burlesque situations. In his most enigmatic incarnations he also appears as a cultural hero. Basing ourselves on a corpus of myths collected from the Haida people of the Northwest Coast, our hypothesis is that the laughter provided by the Raven stories allowed society to stand back from the restraints engendered by its own demands.