The old man accepts him as a grandson, and soon Raven begins begging that he open the boxes, one after another, each time pleading and crying until the old man yields. Soon Raven is reborn from her as a raven/human child. In a ploy to steal the light, Raven shrinks himself to become a hemlock needle in a basket of drinking water so that the daughter swallows him. In the story, the old man hides the light because he's afraid to see whether or not his daughter is ugly. 'The reason for all this blackness has to do with the old man in the house by the river, who had a box, which contained a box, which contained a box, which contained an infinite number of boxes, each nestled in a box slightly larger than itself until finally there was a box so small all it could contain was all the light in the universe.' Inky, pitchy, all-consuming dark, blacker than a thousand stormy winter midnights, blacker than anything anywhere has been since.' This excerpt is from a Raven story published by Haida artist Bill Reid in 1984.

Myths explain the natural world, describe the origin of a clan or tell how the clan acquired rights to perform a particular ceremony. Those who know the stories cannot help being reminded of the trickster whenever they see a raven. In Northwest Coast art, ravens signify the many adventures of Raven in the early days of the world. He changes the world only by cleverly deceiving others in his never-ending quest for food. Yet Raven is a trickster-often selfish, hungry, and mischievous. Raven stole the light and brought it out to light up the world. Stories tell how Raven created the land, released the people from a cockle shell, and brought them fire. Their tales are both sacred myths and simple folk tales. In northern Northwest Coast mythology, Raven is the powerful figure who transforms the world. Native American tricksters tend to be associated with animal spirits (such as Coyote, Rabbit, or Raven). His job was mostly to make trouble for other gods, men, and the rest of the world. He is described in the Prose Edda as a 'contriver of fraud.' Although he doesn’t appear often in the Eddas, he is generally described as a member of the family of Odin. He was the being that changed things-sometimes quite by accident, sometimes on purpose.' In Norse mythology, Loki is known as a trickster.

He was thought of as the transformer, the trickster.

Trickster mythology