> I was reading a book called "People of the Plains", a prehistorical fiction
> novel like the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series. In this particular book,
> there was a shaman who said the reverse of what he meant. The people of the
> book were very literal minded and the act of saying the opposite of what was
> obvious to them made this "clown" a VERY mysterious person. At one point
> he screamed and said that everyone should run because they were in great
> danger...he meant that everyone should sit down and enjoy themselves since
> they were in a place of peace. I can imagine what type of effect this type
> of behavior would have on a group!
Brett:
I recently got around to renting and viewing _Little Big Man_, which had
been highly recommended to me years before. It stars Dustin Hoffman as a
white boy who is adopted by an Indian tribe and spends the rest of his
highly interesting life not fitting properly into either world. Great
movie; dramatic, funny, poignant, all that good stuff. Anyway, the reason
I bring it up is that it has a couple exceptional shamanic-type characters
in it (other than Dustin's, who is exceptional even as exceptions go),
including one of the reversal type you describe. You'd probably find it
interesting.
Eva