Hare

Hare is the pre-eminent trickster of Kaguru folktales, a small, physically feeble creature whose cleverness and persuasive tongue repeatedly overturn the strength of larger beasts. Beidelman treats Hare, alongside Hyena, as one of the two great animal metaphors through which the Kaguru think about their own society, using the figure to explore cunning, self-interest and the ambiguous morality of the weak who prevail by guile. Hare's victories are admired but also disquieting, for the same wit that defeats a predator can betray a companion; the tales thus present the trickster as an instrument of moral imagination rather than a simple hero, prompting listeners, especially the young, to weigh cleverness against fairness.

Domains

• trickery and cunning
• speech and persuasion

Powers

• outwits larger and stronger creatures by wit

Relations

• rival: HyenaHare and Hyena are the paired, morally opposed protagonists of the Kaguru trickster cycle.T. O. Beidelman, 'Ambiguous Animals,' Africa 45(2) (1975); 'Further Adventures of Hyena and Rabbit,' Africa 33(1) (1963). (secondary)
• rival: LionIn recurrent tales the diminutive Hare deceives and humiliates the far more powerful Lion.T. O. Beidelman, Kaguru folktale corpus; cf. Alice Werner, Myths and Legends of the Bantu (1933), on the hare-and-lion tale type. (primary)

Sources

• Hare is the central trickster of Kaguru oral literature, the small and weak but cunning protagonist whose wit defeats stronger animals, and is one of the two dominant theriomorphic metaphors in Kaguru folklore.: T. O. Beidelman, 'Ambiguous Animals: Two Theriomorphic Metaphors in Kaguru Folklore,' Africa 45(2) (1975): 183-200. (secondary); T. O. Beidelman, 'The Moral Imagination of the Kaguru,' American Ethnologist 7(1) (1980): 27-42. (secondary)