View article

The “stranger” in the above story is an archetypal figure who has been depicted in stories and jokes for centuries. Known to folklore scholars as “the Trickster,” this character appears in different guises throughout the world and goes by names as diverse as Loki, Coyote, Hermes, and the Monkey King (Radin 1956; Pelton 1980; Roberts 1989; Hynes 1993; Smith 1997). Although different Trickster stories have different characters and plots, they all often illustrate the important but sometimes subtle difference between playing by the rules and playing with the rules. At the start of the above story, the bar’s consumers are willing to play by the explicit and implied rules set up by the bar owner, resulting in not only value to them but also more business for the bar owner. But at the end of the story, the stranger plays with one of the implied rules (the rule that “eggs” means chicken eggs), thus enjoying a different kind of value …