American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends)

by Richard Erdoes

  Puakauuna said, “Coyote always gets scared at any little thing. And he won’t come back and I shall live well.”

  THE TROUBLE WITH ROSE HIPS

  {Lipan Apache}

  Coyote went on. Along the path he saw some rose hips. They looked red and ripe. “Oh, they might be good to eat!” he thought.

  The rose hips said among themselves, “We’d better tell him we are not fit to eat.”

  He stopped there and said, “How sweet you look. I wonder whether you are good to eat.”

  “No, we are not good to eat at all.”

  “What will happen if someone eats you?”

  “Oh, if anyone eats us, he will have to break wind so hard that it will toss him up into the sky.”

  “Well, I just want to try one,” said Coyote. He picked one and ate it. The berries nudged each other. “Oh, you are sweet,” he said. He ate another and another until he was full. He gathered them by the handful. They didn’t nudge each other anymore.

  He started to sing:

  “When I look up I see many berries,

  When I look down I see many more;

  The ripe ones, the soft ones; they are the ones I eat.”

  He had had enough. They all nudged each other when he had gone a little distance away.

  They began to work on his insides. He ran for a tree and hung on. He went off like a horse. He had to do this again and again.

  Far away in the flats he saw a black thing moving. He went out there. He saw what it was. There were two people looking around on the ground. They were two crows. He stopped there. He said, “You two fellows must have killed a good fat buffalo.”

  “Yes, our children were hungry. So we killed this buffalo. We are butchering it.”

  “Well, leave your work. We’ll play a little game first.”

  “No, let us alone.”

  He insisted. Finally they asked, “Well, what is this game?”

  “Let us see who can defecate over this buffalo.”

  “No, that’s a dirty thing. We don’t do anything like that over the game we kill, over the things we eat.”

  “Oh, only a little will get on it, perhaps.”

  He kept begging and they finally gave in. They wanted him to do it first. But he said, “No, you do it first.”

  The first crow tried. He jumped and defecated. It went only a little way, about halfway across.

  But Coyote said, “That’s pretty good. I don’t think I can do that well.” The other crow tried it then and did no better. Now it was Coyote’s turn. He whirled around and bent down. It came out red and went straight across.

  They had agreed that the one whose excrement went all the way over could have all the meat. Coyote had won all the meat. They had agreed because they thought no one could do it. The crows begged him to leave a little fat in the eye sockets, a little meat between the ribs, and some on the joints.

  Coyote went back home with the meat. The two crows were there blaming each other. That has all been carried on to this day. If two are going along somewhere and meet someone going the other way, this fellow will persuade them to change their plans. Then they do something unwise, for they do not think it over. And it has a meaning in a different way. Some are not honest in playing games and trick others. One must watch out for these people, for they start trouble.

  Before these two crows parted, they said, “Now our children will go hungry because we were fooled.” And that’s the way it is today. People spend their money foolishly and their children go around badly clothed and ill fed. Today some Indians do not listen to the advice of an older brother or a parent and gamble and drink and get into trouble.

  PART FIVE

  IKTOMI THE SPIDER-MAN

  SEVEN TOES

  {Assiniboine}

  Though Sitconski is the preeminent Trickster of the Assiniboine, they also have Iktomi tales.

  All the earth was flooded with water. Iktomi sent animals to dive for dirt at the bottom of the sea. No animal was able to get any. At last he sent the Muskrat. It came up dead, but with dirt in his claws. Iktomi saw the dirt, took it, and made the earth out of it.

  Iktomi was wearing a wolfskin robe. He said, “There shall be as many months as there are hairs on this skin before it shall be summer.”

  Frog said, “If the winter lasts as long as that, no creature will be able to live. Seven months of winter will be enough.” He kept on repeating this, until Iktomi got angry and killed him. Still Frog stuck out seven of his toes. Finally, Iktomi consented and said there should be seven winter months.

  Iktomi then created men and horses out of dirt. Some of the Assiniboine and other northern tribes had no horses. Iktomi told the Assiniboine that they were always to steal horses from other tribes.

  TRICKING THE TRICKSTER

  {Sioux}

  At one time there lived two little boys and their grandmother in the west. She is always telling them stories about Ikto, Iktomi, the smart-ass Spider-Man. They want to know whether Iktomi is a man or a spider. He is both; he is a spirit of the mind. These boys are listening to their grandmother’s voice. They say: “Things that we don’t know, we want to know.”

  Some people talk Iktomi language; they are right and they are wrong, they are smart-foolish. Iktomi, Ikto, can do anything, almost. He tricks people and he can be tricked.

  One day Iktomi is walking, looking for something to eat. He is hungry. All of a sudden he sees mastinčala, a bunch of rabbits. Iktomi likes rabbit stew, but the mastinčala is very fast. Too fast for him. The rabbits are having a feast.

  “Hau, kola, friends, how are you?” says Iktomi as he approaches the rabbits. “I see you are having a powwow. But you don’t sing good. You hardly sing at all. You see that bundle I carry on my back? In this bundle I have all the good songs. Just what you need for your feast.”

  “Open the bundle,” say the rabbits. “Let us have some songs to dance by.”

  “No, no, hiya, I can’t give you these songs for nothing.” “We will give you something good for your songs, like these fine timpsila, wild turnips, here, and these fine leaves to nibble on.”

  Ikto doesn’t like timpsíla or leaves. He likes meat, rabbit meat. “Friends, whatever you’ll give me, these songs are too sacred.”

  “Oh, but we want so much to dance.”

  “Ohan, cousins, since you want it so much, I’ll sing you some songs. I’ll open the bundle and let out some rabbit songs and the rabbit dance. But this is powerful medicine. You must dance two by two and keep your eyes closed all the time, real tight, or your eyes will turn red. You might go blind.”

  Ikto sings the rabbit dance song and the wastinčala dance until they are tired. Ikto is looking to see which one is the fattest. “Cousins, don’t look around. Keep your eyes closed or you’ll go blind. These songs are powerful!” Iktomi takes a club out of his bundle—that’s the only thing in there, a club—and he knocks the four fattest rabbits on the head.

  One smart little rabbit opens one eye. He starts shouting: “Brothers, Iktomi is going to kill us all.” So all the other rabbits run away.

  Ikto says to himself: “Well, I got more than enough. Those stupid mastinčala. I’ll have a good feast now. Lila talo ota—lots of good meat.” He makes a fire and starts to cook those rabbits.

  On the other side of the hill are two young coyotes. They smell something. Something good: roasting meat. Their noses are twitching. One coyote comes down the hill, the other circles around and sneaks up behind a clump of trees. There are two trees, an oak and an ash, close together. In the wind the trunks are rubbing together, making a mournful sound.

  “Hau, mishunkala,” says the coyote who came down from the hill to Iktomi. “Listen to what the spirit in that tree is telling you.”

  “I can’t make it out.”

  “You can’t? And I thought you were smart. He’s hungry. He’s saying: ‘Give me some of that meat and I’ll give you a very valuable present in return.’ ”

  The trees go on making that sa
d noise. “Be quiet,” says Iktomi. “I’ll give you something to eat.”

  “Be careful,” says the coyote. “You can’t trust nobody these days. The valuable gift is where the trees form a cross. In that crotch you will find it. And put the meat in there. Be careful.”

  “I can take care of myself, pilamaya,” says Iktomi, and goes over to the trees.

  “First get the present before you put the meat there,” the coyote advises him.

  Iktomi puts his hand into the crotch, trying to find his present. The second coyote does something to make the trees snap together and Iktomi’s hand is caught. It hurts. He can’t free himself. He has to watch while the coyotes eat up the good meat. “Cousins, save me a little meat,” he begs, but the coyotes just laugh. They eat everything up, even the bones.

  So that Trickster is tricked. A big wind comes and knocks the trees apart. Iktomi falls down. All the food is gone except the four heads. Iktomi walks on. All of a sudden he hears a song. He sees a buffalo skull lying there and out of it comes this song. He looks in through an eye socket and he sees all these little yellow bugs, the tumunga, dancing and having a powwow. He sees this big yellow bug singing. Steady and slow. “Cousins, what are you going to eat at your feast?”

  “There’s plenty of tunkče, honey.”

  “Cousins, let me come in and dance with you.” He says this, but all he is thinking was how to get the honey.

  The bees know what he is up to. Iktomi is going around the skull trying to find a way to get in. The yellow bugs say to each other, whispering : “Let’s trap that wicked spider.” Aloud they say: “Stick your head in through the eye hole here and lick up that good tunkče we are having.”

  Iktomi does as they tell him and his head gets stuck. He can’t go ahead and he can’t go back. “Cousins,” he cries, “pity me. Let me go.” But the tumunga fly away. Iktomi stumbles around with his head in the buffalo skull. He tries to shake it loose, but he stays caught.

  Just nearby two young boys are playing with bow and arrows, with Indian slingshots. They come across Ikto. With his little body and the big buffalo skull, he is quite some sight. “What’s your name?” ask the boys.

  When he hears the boys, the Spider-Man cries: “I’m Iktomi. Help me get this thing off. In return I’ll help you.”

  “What can you do?”

  “I can do most everything. I’m all-powerful.”

  “Then why don’t you knock that skull off by yourself?”

  “This is a very special case.” So the boys knock the skull apart with a rock and free Ikto. Iktomi tells them: “I can do everything. Whoever believes in me, I do great things for him. But first you must bring me deer meat. Plenty of it.”

  “And what will you give us?”

  “Before the sun goes down bring me a piece from the rays of the sun, and ten rawhides. Find a mud turtle. Whenever the mud turtle farts, put the farts in this medicine bag here. That’s powerful medicine. And bring me the heart of the tiniest ant. This medicine will give you many good songs and stories.”

  The boys get him the rawhides. But they can’t catch the sun rays. They say: “We tried to make the mud turtle fart into this bag, but whether the farts are really in there, we don’t know.”

  “They are, they are, I can smell them. This will make good medicine. Where is the meat?”

  Iktomi eats and says: “The turtle farts are already working. I feel a good story coming on. Sit close by me, boys.”

  He tells the story of three young warriors who go out on the warpath and get themselves all killed. “They told me the story themselves.”

  The boys are suspicious: “How come they could tell you the story when they are dead?”

  “Through my magic,” Iktomi explains. “Through this red weed. (He pulls out some red grass and shows it.) This is a messenger. Now get me a fine buffalo robe. I need one. It’s already getting cold.” He is making an Ikto web, a spider web formed like a circle, because he is akin to a witch doctor. So he makes a wihmunge, a magic thing that bewitches. The boys take Iktomi to their camp. He tells the chief: “Iya is coming to eat you up.”

  “How are we going to stop him?” asks the chief. We’ll put up a good wakan wohanpi, a sacred feast. I’ll perform it.“

  “What will you use for that ceremony?”

  “Get me a joint from a female deer leg. We must have plenty to eat for this wakan wohanpi.”

  They start out with a sweat lodge—Iktomi, the chief, and the two boys. Iktomi sings a song. He says: “Hau, the spirit is here.” He pretends to speak to the spirit, but he is faking. There is no spirit.

  “Ask the spirit,” says the chief. Ikto mumbles like he is talking spirit language. He pretends to listen. He tells the chief and the boys: “They’ll do what I ask them. The spirits are stopping Iya. I can do everything. Now get me a lot of good meat. And two fine buffalo hides. And a piece of the Morning Star while you are about it.”

  IKTOMI AND THE MAM-EATING MONSTER

  {Lakota}

  Iktomi, the tricky Spider-Man, was walking along. He saw a vine dangling down from a huge rock. Iktomi cannot resist dangling vines. He has to climb them. So also that time, he crawled up this vine. At once he was sorry for having done so, because on top of the rock Man-Eating Monster was lying in wait. He was fearful to behold. Iktomi was very scared.

  Iktomi said to the Monster: “Younger brother, I have been looking for you. I am glad I found you.”

  The Monster looked at Iktomi, saying: “I have not had much to eat.”

  “Is that so?” said Iktomi. “It is much too early for dinner.”

  “I have not eaten breakfast,” said Monster. “I could do with a bit of food. You look good enough to eat.” Man-Eating Monster was smacking his lips.

  “Younger brother,” said Iktomi, “I could not even fill a cavity in one of your teeth—I am not worthwhile eating.”

  “Since when am I your younger brother?” said Monster. “To call me younger brother is an insult.”

  “When were you born?” asked Iktomi.

  “I was born when the earth was made,” replied Monster.

  “Hah, it was I who made the earth,” said Iktomi, “and I also made the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. Come to think of it, I made you. You were then only a little itsy-bitsy dirty thing, and I threw you away. ”

  “Well, all right,” said Man-Eating Monster, “I will call you older brother. Then I will eat you, though you are very small.”

  “Hold on, younger brother,” said Iktomi, “I have something better for you than just little me. I know where there is a large camp with many people. I’ll eat half of them, and I’ll let you eat the other half.”

  “Well, yes, that is good,” said Man-Eating Monster. “Let’s go.” Monster came down so fast from the rock that he panted. When he caught his breath he almost sucked Iktomi down his throat.

  “Please breathe in some other direction.”

  “Let’s go to that camp, older brother,” said Monster, whose mouth was watering. “I am hungry.”

  “Why, yes, let’s hurry, younger brother, but first tell me what you are afraid of,” Iktomi asked.

  “Why do you want to know?” asked Man-Eating Monster.

  “So that I can make sure there is no such thing where we are going.”

  “Well, all right. There are only three things that I am afraid of—a rattle, a whistle, and a woman who is on her moon, a menstruating woman.”

  They went on. When they got near to the camp Iktomi told Man-Eating Monster: “Younger brother, wait here. I want to make sure that we don’t come across the things you are afraid of.”

  “Well, all right, but hurry!”

  Iktomi went ahead to the camp. He called the people together. “Big Man-Eating Monster is coming! He wants to eat you up. If there is a woman among you who, just now, is on her moon, let her come forth. Let her shake a rattle and blow a whistle when Man-Eating Monster arrives. That will scare him ofl:”

  Iktomi hurried back to wher
e Man-Eating Monster was waiting. “Everything is in order,” he said. “There is no woman on her moon, no whistle, and no rattle.”

  “Good,” said Man-Eating Monster. “But it is unfair that you want half of all the people to eat. You are small. I’ll let you have one or two. Don’t be greedy.”

  “Well, all right,” said Iktomi. “Just let me have one.”

  When they came to the camp, the woman on her moon greeted them, blowing a whistle and shaking a rattle. It so frightened Man-Eating Monster that he dropped down dead.

  IKTOMI, FLINT BOY, AND THE GRIZZLY

  {Lakota}

  Iktomi and Flint Boy were old friends. Once they were traveling together, and they were going merrily along when suddenly out of the woods dashed a ferocious grizzly. The bear attacked them. Iktomi ran away and hid himself. Flint Boy stood his ground. With his sharp flint knife he stabbed the grizzly. He stabbed him repeatedly. The bear died.

  Iktomi came out of hiding. “Kola, friend,” he said to Flint Boy, “you did a great deed.”

  “It was nothing,” said Flint Boy. He was skinning the bear with his flint knife. “This will make a fine, warm robe for my bed,” he commented. Then he cut off the claws. “This will make a fine bear-claw necklace,” he added.

  “I am impressed,” said Iktomi. “I am so impressed I will call you from now on mishunkala, younger brother.”

  “No, no,” said Flint Boy, “you must call me elder brother, because it was I who killed the bear. I will call you little brother.”