The Girard Reader by René Girard Read Free Book Online Page A

to act. The rite aims straight at the
    final result, achieving, as it were, a minimum expenditure of violence.

    The Canelos dice game offers a clue to the reason why the theme of chance recurs so
    frequently in folklore, myth, and fable. Oedipus, it will be remembered, refers to himself
    as the son of Tychè -- that is, Fortune or Chance. There were towns in the ancient world
    in which the selection of magistrates was made by drawing lots, for the power bestowed
    by ritually regulated chance always contains a sacred element, the sacred "fusion of
    opposites." Indeed, the more we reflect on this theme of Chance, the more universal it
    appears. In popular legend and fairy tale Chance is often invoked to "find" kings or,
    conversely (and the converse is always the other face of the same coin), to designate
    someone to undertake a difficult or perilous mission, a mission that might involve self-
    sacrifice for the general good -- someone, in short, to assume the role of surrogate
    victim:
    On tira-t à la courte paille
    Pour savoir qui serait mangé
    ____________________
    2. Jensen, Mythes et cultes chez les peuples primitifs, trans. M. Metzger and J. Goffinet (
    Paris: Payot, 1954), 77-83.
    -23-

    (One drew for the short straw

    to know who would be eaten.) 3.
    Yet is there any way of proving that the motif of Chance has its origin in the arbitrary
    nature of the violent resolution? There are numerous instances in which the drawing of
    lots so clearly supports the meaning proposed here that it is virtually impossible to doubt
    the connection. One such example is the Old Testament Book of Jonah. God tells Jonah
    to go forth and warn the people of Nineveh that their city will be destroyed if they do
    not repent of their ways. Hoping to evade this thankless task, the reluctant prophet
    embarks on a ship sailing for Tarshish:
    But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the
    sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
    Then the mariners were afraid, and cried very man unto his god, and cast forth the wares
    that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into
    the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
    So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper?
    Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
    And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for
    whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. ( Jonah
    1:4-7)
    The ship represents the community, the tempest the sacrificial crisis. The jettisoned
    cargo is the cultural system that has abandoned its distinctions. The fact that everybody
    calls out to his own particular god indicates a breakdown in the religious order. The
    floundering ship can be compared to the city of Nineveh, threatened with destruction
    unless its people repent. The forms may vary, but the crisis is always the same.
    The passengers cast lots to determine who is responsible for the crisis. Chance can
    always be trusted to reveal the truth, for it reflects the will of the divinity. The lot
    designates Jonah, who proceeds to confess his culpability:
    Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For
    the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
    Then they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?
    for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
    ____________________
    3. From "Il était un petit navire," folkloric French song. - Ed .
    -24-

    And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be
    calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. ( Jonah 1:10-

    12)
    The sailors attempt to gain the shore by their own efforts; they would like to save
    Jonah's life. But they finally recognize the futility of their efforts, and