Cunning (redirected from crafty)

Cunning

See also Trickery.

Adler, Irene

cleverly foiled Sherlock Holmes and the King of Bohemia. [Br. Lit.: Doyle “A Scandal in Bohemia” in Sherlock Holmes]

Artful Dodger

nickname for the sly pickpocket, John Dawkins. [Br. Lit.: Oliver Twist]

Asmodeus

clever, hell-born hero. [Fr. Lit.: Le Diable Boiîteux, Walsh Modern, 31]

Autolycus

craftiest of thieves; stole neighbors’ flocks by changing marks. [Gk. Myth.: NCE, 192]

Bamber, Jack

law clerk with “strange wild slyness.” [Br. Lit.: Pickwick Papers]

Bolingbroke, Henry

cleverness and timing bring him England’s crown. [Br. Lit.: Richard II]

Borgia, Cesare

(1476–1507) unscrupulously plotted against friend and foe. [Ital. Hist.: Plumb, 59–61]

Brer Fox

sly trickster; outwits everyone. [Children’s Lit.: Uncle Remus]

Bunny, Bugs

for whom no trap is too tricky. [Comics: Horn, 140]

cheetah

pounces without warning on prey. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 320]

Cleopatra

manipulates Antony through her “infinite variety.” [Br. Lit.: Antony and Cleopatra]

crow

symbolizes one who lives by his wits. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 388]

Dido

contracts for as much land as can be enclosed by an oxhide; by cutting it into a strip she obtains enough to found a city. [Rom. Legend: Collier’s VI, 259]

Dolius

epithet of Hermes, meaning ‘crafty.’ [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 124]

Fabius

delayed meeting Hannibal’s troops; wore them down; hence, fabian. [Rom. Hist.: Espy, 177]

Figaro

ingeniously contrives means to his own ends. [Fr. Lit.: Barber of Seville; Marriage of Figaro]

fox

symbol of cleverness and deceit. [Animal Symbolism: Mercatante, 84–85]

Foxy Grandpa

shrewd old man always turns the table on mischievous kids. [Comics: Horn, 602]

Helena

tricks husband into fulfilling marital duties. [Br. Lit.: All’s Well That Ends Well]

Hippomenes

beat the swift Atalanta in a race by distracting her with golden apples. [Gk. Myth.: Bulfinch]

Isabella

frustrates captor while pretending compliance. [Ital. Opera: Rossini, Italian Girl in Algeria, Westerman, 118–119]

jackal

outwits the tiger; imprisons him. [Hindu Folklore: Mercatante, 55]

Little Claus

grows rich by tricks and extortions. [Dan. Lit.: Andersen’s Fairy Tales]

Malengin

carries net on back to “catch fools with.” [Br. Lit.: Faerie Queene]

Marion, Francis

(1732–1795) Revolutionary general, nick-named the “Swamp Fox.” [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 308]

Morgiana

female slave cleverly dispatches 40 thieves. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”]

Odysseus

wily and noble hero of the Odyssey. [Gk. Lit.: Odyssey]

Oriol, Father

shrewd landowner with admirable bargaining ability. [Fr. Lit.: Mont-Oriol, Magill I, 618–620]

Panurge

“received answers in twelve known and unknown tongues.” [Fr. Lit.: Gargantua and Pantagruel]

Philadelphia lawyer

clever at finding fine points and technicalities. [Am. Usage: Misc.]

Road Runner

thrives on outwitting Wile E. Coyote. [Comics: “Beep Beep the Road Runner” in Horn, 105]

Sawyer, Tom

hoodwinks friends into painting fence. [Am. Lit.: Tom Sawyer]

Scheherazade

escapes being put to death by telling stories for 1001 nights. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights]

serpent

subtly deceives Eve in the Garden. [O.T.: Genesis 3:1]

Sinon

induces Trojans to take in wooden horse. [Rom. Lit.: Aeneid]

spider ophrys

indicates cleverness. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 177]

third little pig

outwits Wolf; lures him into boiling water. [Children’s Lit.: Bettelheim, 41–45]

Weller, Samuel

ingeniously rescues his master, Mr. Pickwick, from many scrapes. [Br, Lit.: Dickens Pickwick Papers]

Whipple, Molly

outwits ferocious giant and gains his talismanic possessions. [Br. Fairy Tale: “Molly Whipple” in Macleod, 58–641

wolf

symbol on coats of arms. [Heraldry: Halberts, 16]