The fact that both Loki and
Lox end their earthly career at a waterfall is very curious. The two
also become, in wizard fashion, women at will. But it is chiefly in the
extreme and wanton devilishness of their tricks that they are alike.
Many other resemblances will suggest themselves to those who know the
Eddas.
In the Passamaquoddy version of this tale, it is Seewitch, and not the
Loon, who plays the part of the jealous husband at the end. The career
of the Weasels _seems_ to set forth the adventures of a couple of
Indian Becky Sharps, very much in the spirit of an Indian Thackeray.
The immorality of these damsels, the sponging of Marten, the deviltry
of Lox, the servile follies and ferocious vindictiveness of the Loon,
all seem to impress the composer of the tale as so many bubbles rising
and falling on the sea of life, only remarkable for the sun-gleam of
humor which they reflect. Outside these tales I know of nothing which
so resembles the inner spirit of Aristophanes, Rabelais, and
Shakespeare. I do not say that the genius of these great masters is in
them, but their manner of seeing humor and wickedness combined. The
cause of this lies in the cultivated stoicism with which every Indian
trains himself to regard life. The inevitable result of such culture is
always in some way a kind of humor, either grim or gay.
A re-perusal of the Eddas has impressed me with the remarkable
resemblance of Lox, the Wolverine, to Loki.
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