American
Indian Trickster Tales
(1998) Selected and edited by Richard Erdoes
and Alfonso Ortiz, New York: Viking Press ISBN 0-670-87829-4
This anthology is a great comprehensive resource for older students and
adults. They contain bawdy tales. This is the food-stealing,
wife-seducing, shape-shifting, unremorseful, always scheming Trickster.
This is the Trickster central to Native American folklore. This
anthology covers the entire North American continent with more than 100
tales from 55 tribes.
You'll meet Coyote from the Southwest, Iktomi, the shape-shifting
Spider Trickster from Lakota, Veeho, the Cheyenne dare-devil and lesser
known tricksters. There are tale cycles from
the East coast, the Great Lakes, the Mountains as well as the Plains.
Erdoes and Ortiz share both the wit and wisdom collected with great
love and accuracy. This book also points out the paradox of Trickster.
Although he's a liar, he's also a prophet and sometimes tricks by using
the truth. Although he is a fool, he also has supernatural powers. He
can be powerful and also powerless. There is an invaluable source guide
at the back of the book that can lead you to further exploration of
Trickster and the extent of his importance in folklore.
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Cut
From the Same Cloth American Women of Myth, Legend, and Tall Tale
(1993) Collected and told by Robert D. San
Souci, New York: Philomel Books ISBN0-399-21987-0
San Souci provides us something entirely different by giving us the
trickster women of North America. He organized this collection of
Women's tales by region, moving from east to west. The women come from
the Native American, African American, Mexican American, and Canadian
traditions. Although they differ in many ways from male counterparts,
there are still tricksters, sweet talkers, and brave and strong
protagonists like those found in hero stories. There has been some
retelling, some modifications of dialects, some reshaping of open
endings, but the plots have not been tampered with. Each story is
illustrated with an engraving of some sort, with black background and
white lines that give the pictures an antique quality like a woodcut or
copper engraving that make the volume a delight to read. The teller is
helpful by providing us notes on the stories and an extensive list of
further reading are appended.
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In
the Beginning
(1988) Told by Virginia
Hamilton New York: Harbourt Brace
Jovanovich ISBN 0-15-238-740-4
Trickster is often associated with creation in many countries around
the world. Virginia Hamilton brings together 25 creation myths from
such diverse cultures as China, Tahiti, Micronesia, and Australia. The
stories are framed by 42 dramatic, full-color paintings. This is a
striking representative collection. Hamilton's introduction defines
creation myths and explains their place within the formal framework of
the cultures. Hamilton is successful in her commitment to stay true to
the simplicity of many creation myths that result in quiet, skillful
retellings, including fidelity of language used. Helpful are the
explanatory notes at the end of each myth. The illustrations by Barry
Moser are powerful and pull the stories together. This collection
features Raven from the Inuit, Turtle from the Maidu Indians of
California, and the Spider, Ananse from Togo.
My favorite in this volume is "Ananse finds Something". Wulbari, the
Sky God, requests that Ananse bring him 'something'. Ananse of course
has NO idea what 'something' could be. Ananse gathered all the birds on
earth and asked each for a feather. Ananse made a robe from the
feathers and put it on and climbed to the top of the tree by God's
house. Ananse overhears that Wulbari wants the Sun, Moon and Stars. He
captures them and puts them in the sky and that's how we got our Sun,
Moon and Stars.
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The
People Could Fly
(1985) told by Virginia Hamilton New York: Albert Knopf
ISBN 0-679-84336-1
Virginia Hamilton has collected a wonderful representative
collection of American Black Folktales. Included in these tales is a
section Brer Rabbit tales, the most famous rabbit Trickster. She also
includes a John tale called "John and the Devil's Daughter".
Virginia Hamilton devoted her life to entertaining us through her
books, and this is one of her best. She presents the tales in gullah
tongue, the language that is a mix of English and African tongues still
used in the South. I particularly enjoyed her version of the tar baby.
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The
Pot of Wisdom Ananse Stories
(2001) collected by Adwoa Badoe Toronto, Ontario:
Groundwood Books ISBN 088899429X
Ananse is by probably the most well-known of tricksters. These tales
are collected from Ghana and while are a delightful source for
storytellers, much would be lost by not seeing the incredible art work
by Baba Wagué Diakité.
This volume illustrates the scope and implications of Trickster around
the world. Some of the stories are pourquoi tales like why Spider lives
on the ceiling while others explain how Ananse gave us our wisdom,
purely by accident, but given to us just the same.
One of the tales, Ananse and the Feeding Pot, is very similar to The
Talking Eggs. Ananse's son, Ntikuma disappeared from the village and
when he came back he had a small pot. With the pot he could feed the
whole village. Ananse was jealous
of the attention Ntikuma was getting from the elders, so Ananse
finds out how Ntikuma got the pot and heads out to the desert to find
the Grandmother with the magic pots. Instead of following Grandmother's
instructions, he chooses the biggest pot and when he tries to conjure a
feast from the pot when he gets back to the village, out spills bugs,
beetles, caterpillars and lizards. He is punished for his greediness.
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Spider
Spins a Story Fourteen Legends from Native America
(1997) edited
by Jill Max, Arizona: Rising Moon ISBN 0-87358-611-5
This collection is a valuable addition to elementary school libraries.
The 14 legends are presented in a straightforward manner that
encompasses all the roles of Spider: mentor, ally, miracle worker,
shape-shifter and most of all, trickster. Tribes from around North
America have their own unique legends, and the spiders in these stories
show the many roles Spider fills. The full-color illustrations are
contributed by some of the best-known Native artists which enhance the
Spider tales. The selections include a short introduction and all the
tales are appropriately sourced.
An example of the tales in the book is "Swift runner and Trickster
Tarantula". Trickster cheats Swift Runner out of his beautiful leggings
and feathers, necklaces and earrings. When he is cornered by the people
from Swift Runner's village, they say he's too dangerous to live and
set him on fire. Instead of dying, he explodes into million of pieces -
each piece a tiny version of Trickster Tarantula himself.
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Trickster
and the Fainting Birds
(1999)
told by Howard Norman New York Harcourt Brace & Company ISBN
0-15-200888-8
This book is a collection of Cree and chippewa trickster tales. The
fine documentation at the back of the book tells when the tale was
collected and from whom. Norman compares the variations of the tales
from tribe to tribe and includes the correct pronunciation of the
words. The Cree name for Trickster, Wistchahik, is the name that Father
Albert originally heard as a common factor in the tales he collected in
the 1800's. He came to name them trickster tales using the French work
for deceiver.
The tales in this volume were collected around the fire side and
kitchen table. Some are pourquoi tales as why loons have flat feet and
ruffled tail feathers. Certainly it's because they got stepped on and
kicked by Trickster himself when they foiled Trickster's plan to
capture some ducks for dinner.
I am fond of this book because of it's matter-of-fact telling of these
tales, as one would tell about a neighbor or friend. There is no
astonishment at the shape-shifting or magic inherent with Trickster.
It's simply accepted as a part of life.
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Trickster Tales
Forty Folk
Stories
from Around the World
(1996) retold by Josepha Sherman Little
Rock: August House publishers ISBN 087483449X
Josepha Sherman carefully gleaned stories from around the world that
are a good representation of the different styles of trickster tales
that are representative on different continents. The stories include
the prominent tricksters like Anansi, the foolish spider who
inadvertently gives man wisdom and Coyote from the Apache Nation, Raven
from the Inuit People of Alaska, Rabbit from the Algonquin and Monkey
from Japan. There is also a smattering of minor tricksters from
countries not usually represented in trickster lore like England,
France and the near East.
Sherman includes extensive notes at the back of the volume, including
motif numbers and a six page bibliography for those who want to dig
deeper. This volume is especially useful to link storytelling to the
mythology curriculum and/or history curriculum for North American
Indian Nations.
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World
Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Folktales
(1999) Told by Renata
Bini New York: Harry N Abrams ISBN
0-8109-4554-1
I include this volume to contrast with Virginia Hamilton's volume In the Beginning. The brief
tellings collected in the book span many cultures, about one-quarter of
them are Native North. The texts are condensed, using summarization
techniques that weaken otherwise
powerful stories and cause them to lose their voice. The only one I
found satisfying was "Divine Mantis, Ostrich and the Fire", a Bosjesman
myth. Another disconcerting factor is the lack of documentation. Bini
doesn't tell the sources for her tales. At the back she includes People
and Places in Mythology by continent which gives you a sense of
important players in mysthology, but again no sources.
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Young
Brer Rabbit and Other Trickster Tales from the Americas
(1986) collected and adapted by
Jaqueline
Shachter Weiss, Owings Mills, Maryland: Stemmer House ISBN 0880450371
This collection is one of the finest example of how an oral tradition
can spread over a large area. In the tellings some pieces of the
stories remain consistent, such as the cunning of Rabbit and the
extreme gullibility of the other animals. Other items in the mix change
to suit the tellers and the different environments in which the tales
were told. These African tales managed to be spread through the
Americas in four different languages, and stay alive and keep growing.
My favorite in the volume is "The Moon from Panama". Just before dark,
Rabbit helps Man by bringing him fresh banana leaves to wrap his cheese
to keep it moist. In payment Man gives Rabbit 2 balls of cheese. Rabbit
goes fishing by the light of the moon, carrying his pieces of cheese
with him. Rabbit was busy catching fish and didn't hear Tiger sneak up
behind him. Tiger grabs Rabbit by the ribs. Rabbit calmly says, "Before
you eat me, have some of my cheese." Tiger eats the cheese convinced
it's the best ever. Rabbit says there is more at the bottom of the
river and points to the full moon reflected in the river. Rabbit
convinces Tiger he can get to the bottom to get the cheese if he ties
large boulders to his feet. As Tiger is sinking and being swept away by
the current, he yells to Rabbit, "I'll bet you weren't fishing at all.
What kind of fish do you catch at night?" Rabbit answers: "Sucker fish!"
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