Similarly, when Odysseus and his crew mates arrive at the cave of Polyphemus, a cyclops, Polyphemus reacts by eating a few of Odysseus's men-not exactly a hospitable act. Since the pond is technically his home (that is where alligators live after all), he's not being a very good host. In the story of “How the Alligator Got His Brown, Scaly Skin,” Alligator gets burned by burning wood when he does not let other animals drink from his pond. Ancient Greek society stressed upon the ideas of hospitality, and if one was inhospitable to a guest, they could count on Zeus, considered the God of xenos, to punish them.
When reading “Alligator,” the first thing that came to my mind was xenos, which can mean anything from “foreigner” to “guest” to “friend,” depending on the context and how it is used. Both stories involve morals that are precedent in Greek myths, namely the concepts of hospitality and deceit. The most notable stories would be “How the Alligator Got His Brown, Scaly Skin” (123-136) and “When Coyote Decided to Get Married” (149-160), which revolved around collectivist ideas such as sharing your possessions or that one's incompetence leads to the downfall of the entire group. While reading Matt Dembicki's Trickster, I could not help but draw some comparisons between the tricksters of Native American folklore and the heroes of ancient Greek mythology.
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