Many cultures frame trickery’s greatest gifts as thefts of light from selfish holders

Evidence

In the beginning, the world was in darkness, for a selfish old chief kept the sun, moon, and stars hidden away in carved boxes in his house and would share them with no one. … Raven, clever and determined that the world should have light, transformed himself — in the famous tale — into a tiny pine needle (or a speck), floated in the drinking water of the chief’s daughter, was swallowed, and was reborn as the chief’s own grandchild. As a beloved (and very demanding) grandchild, Raven cried and begged until the doting old chief let ‘him’ play with the boxes — and Raven, seizing his chance, released the stars, then the moon, then at last the sun, flying up the smoke-hole as a raven again and carrying the light out into the sky, where it stayed, giving the whole world day and night, sun and moon and stars. — , A Year of World Stories, 14664

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors Prometheus and Maui stealing fire, as the text itself notes; also the Greek myth of the sun hidden by Helios in boxes. — connects to: Theft and criticism become gifts when living off visibility — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 154
• FICTION: The reborn-as-grandchild infiltration device is a striking plot engine adaptable to modern heist fiction.