>The way I understand it, Loki as totally evil is a misconception.  There
>were actually TWO Loki's.... one was Utgard Loki, and I believe he WAS
>really evil.  But the Loki most people know of was really more of a
>trickster, like Coyote in Native American beliefs.
 
There's another trickster name that I'm quite fond of, that I'm surprised
nobody has mentioned yet.  It's "Till Eulenspiegel", as in "Till Eulenspiegel
and His Merry Pranks", the tone poem by Richard Strauss.
 
I don't know exactly where this character originated, although I'm guessing
it was Teutonic mythology.  The tone poem is pretty neat, though ... and it
has a neat little part after his death, where you hear his leitmotif
(signature theme) again, and you realize that his spirit and pranks will
live on past his physical body.  My next ferret will probably be named
"Till" (or "Tilly", if she's a girl)!
 
- Ela
Paddington and Scooter (and Waldorph the bunny)
[Posted in FML issue 1913]