Trickster turn passed it on to Odysseus. In Slavic folktales, the trickster and the culture hero are often combined. Frequently the trickster figure exhibits gender and form variability. In Norse mythology the mischief-maker is Loki, who is also a shape shifter. Loki also exhibits gender variability, in one case even becoming pregnant. He becomes a mare who later gives birth to Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir. British scholar Evan Brown suggested that Jacob in the Bible has many of the characteristics of the trickster:The tricks Jacob plays on his twin brother Esau, his father Isaac and his father-in-law Laban are immoral by
Eight-legged essay The following is a translation of an original eight-legged essay, written by Wang Ao (1450–1524), who was considered to be a master of the form. Essay Topic: "If the people enjoy sufficiency how could the ruler suffer from insufficiency?" 1. Pòtí: When the people below are rich, the ruler at the top will naturally be rich. 2. Chéngtí: This is so because the wealth of the ruler is something kept by the people. If the people are already rich, how can it stand to reason that the ruler alone is poor? 3. Qǐjiǎng: You Ruo spoke from profundity the idea