American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends)

by Richard Erdoes

  HOW MASAAW SLEPT WITH A BEAUTIFUL MAIDEN

  {Hopi}

  Aliksa‘i. It is said Musangnuvi was settled. There, on the east side of the village, lived an old grandmother with her granddaughter, a most beautiful girl.

  It so happened that their supply of fuel had been exhausted, so the old woman made plans to collect wood down on the plain to the west of Musangnuvi, where greasewood bushes were plentiful. She picked up her walking cane, along with rope to bind the wood together, and descended to the area north of Toriva. There, along the bank of a wash, she shuffled about, picking up dry sticks.

  She had not even gathered a large bundle when someone strode up and struck her a blow that immediately knocked her unconscious. The one responsible for this deed was Masaaw. He had evidently been spying on the old woman and now, after stunning her, he started to flay her. That accomplished, he slipped into the old woman’s skin, transforming himself into her very likeness. Then he picked up her walking stick, shouldered the bundle of wood, and trudged slowly off, imitating her very movement. Masaaw had evidently been studying the old woman’s gait as she approached the area.

  When he finally turned the corner of the mesa, he came upon the old woman’s home and tapped on the ladder with her stick. Each time the old woman returned from hauling wood, she was wont to strike the ladder in just that way. And indeed, no sooner had he struck the ladder than the young girl came out onto the roof. “Thanks,” she shouted to her grandmother. “You are home already?”

  “Yes, I have arrived,” Masaaw replied, speaking Hopi.

  The young girl hoisted the bundle of wood up to the rooftop, whereupon the old woman clambered up, untied the load, and stacked the wood along the edge of the house where the wood was usually piled up. Then both went indoors. By that time it was evening and getting dark. The girl had already prepared bean soup and somiviki, and these the two had for supper. After they had eaten, the old lady said: “I’m already sleepy. I got so weary that I’m already drowsy. I think we’ll go to bed,” she suggested to her grandchild.

  “By all means. Surely you must be worn out,” the girl replied. “After all, you hauled the wood a long way.”

  And so the girl spread out the bedding where the two usually slept and both of them lay down. Quite some time later the old woman suddenly turned over to face her granddaughter and embraced the girl. And then, while grasping her with both hands, she little by little worked her way on top. “Dear me,” screamed the girl. “Why on earth are you doing such a thing?”

  “Why, my granddaughter, it seems to be a fact that when a woman gets as old as I, she grows a penis,” the old grandmother explained. “That’s exactly what happened to me. I have grown a penis, and that’s why I am climbing on top of you,” she declared.

  The poor grandchild had no wish to suffer such an act, but Masaaw mounted her all the same and started to copulate with her. Oh, how he rammed into the maiden. After he had finished, he muttered: “There, let it be thus. Apparently this happens when you grow as old as me. Wait till you reach old age. You’ll most likely grow a penis, too.”

  Following Masaaw’s intercourse, the two fell asleep. Next morning the old woman announced: “Well, I’m going after fuel again.” With these words Masaaw left and shuffled off to gather wood. He was, of course, still garbed in the old woman’s skin. When Masaaw arrived at the same place as the day before, he saw the old woman still lying there stripped of her skin. The wretched creature was nothing but a hump of red flesh. Masaaw now sloughed off the woman’s skin, rolled it into a ball, and flung it at her. Lo and behold, the skin stretched back on the woman just as before. Next Masaaw revived her, however not before he had gathered wood for her. He bundled up about the same amount as she had collected herself, and then left.

  The old woman soon came back to life, slung the sticks on her back, and trudged homeward with her wood. Arriving at her house, she banged on the ladder several times in rapid succession. Once more the girl quickly emerged and shouted: “Thanks! You have come back?”

  “Yes, I’ve come home,” said the grandmother.

  “All right, come on up.” With that the young girl pulled up the fuel wood. Then the old woman climbed up, untied the sticks, and stacked them in a pile. As before, the girl had already prepared a meal ahead of time, so the two ate supper. When they were done with their meal, the old woman showed no sign of sleepiness. She was not the least tired, so grandmother and granddaughter sat around until night fell. When the two were ready to go to bed, the girl once more spread their bedrolls out. But as they lay down together, the old woman showed no intention to touch the girl.

  The girl was restless. Finally she turned to her grandmother and asked: “Why did you copulate with me last night, grandmother?”

  “Oh dear, that can’t be so, for I have no penis,” the old woman exclaimed.

  “But you certainly did make love to me last night,” the girl retorted.

  “According to you, a woman grows a penis when she reaches old age.”

  “Never in my life did I have intercourse with you,” the old woman replied, vehemently denying the accusation.

  The young girl just lay there.

  “Oh, my poor grandchild, it must have been that evil old man who had the gall to do that to you. He came up to me, knocked me out, and then carried my bundle of wood here.” The old woman was referring to Masaaw. “It could only have been him. He’s such a nasty one that he made up this story as an excuse to make love to you. I certainly don’t have a penis,” the grandmother insisted. “But Masaaw is a man and thus surely possesses one. That’s why he copulated with you. Oh, my poor, poor grandchild!” the old woman kept muttering out of sympathy for her granddaughter.

  This was how Masaaw came to sleep with another female, and here the short story ends.

  SCARED TO DEATH

  {Hopi}

  Aliksa‘i. People were living at Orayvi. Not far from the village, at Matsupatsa, was Masaaw’s home, where he lived with his grandmother. Every night when the villagers went to bed, he inspected the area around Orayvi. In this way he guarded the Orayvis.

  One day when he was returning from his inspection tour around the village, he heard something just as he reached his house. It sounded as if someone were having a good time, and the shouting and laughing seemed to be coming from Orayvi. So he went a little distance toward Orayvi and listened once more. Evidently some people were making a great deal of noise in Orayvi. As soon as he realized this, he returned to his house. He entered and blurted out to his grandmother, “Some people at Orayvi really seem to be very happy.”

  “That’s for sure, and I am aware of it. Boys, girls, men, and women play sosotukpi there in the kiva every night. It’s getting so bad that they go to bed late. At first they used to go to bed right away, but now it’s usually very late. So I am well aware of what is going on.”

  Thereupon Masaaw replied: “I’d very much like to be there together with the others one of these days. I have no idea how to play sosotukpi.”

  “That’s out of the question,” his grandmother replied. “You can’t do that. They are afraid of you, so don’t count on anything like that!” Her words made it clear that she would not give him permission to go under any circumstances.

  From that day on Masaaw kept mulling it over as he made his nightly rounds in Orayvi. One day when he returned home, he said to his grandmother, “It’s always on my mind to visit Orayvi when I’m inspecting the area there. So tomorrow, after I make the rounds, I will go there.”

  “Well, if you recall, I forbade you to do that. On the other hand, I have a hunch that you don’t intend to obey me. So why don’t you go. But if you do go, be sure to cover yourself tightly with your blanket and don’t let it slip off, for the people are very much afraid of you. For once, listen to me and don’t reveal your face!”

  Now at last he had her consent. Masaaw started looking forward to the following evening. And once more he made his inspection rounds. But as soon as he got
home, he grabbed his blanket and headed toward Orayvi. Once again his grandmother warned him, “You must not show your face under any circumstances. Take just a quick look at them and then come back.”

  He arrived at Orayvi and, sure enough, in one kiva they were playing sosotukpi. Since there were a lot of boys and girls on the kiva roof, he did not climb up on the roof but stood at the corner of a house and watched. The people were in a happy mood. There was shouting and laughter in the kiva.

  After he had stood there for a long time, the people watching from the roof one by one got tired and departed. Eventually only one person remained on the top of the kiva. Thereupon Masaaw thought: “I’ll go up there and peek in. Then I can see for myself what the game is like. I have no idea why they are carrying on so happily.”

  Saying this, he climbed up to the kiva. He lay flat on the top of the roof alongside the one remaining person. He kept his head tightly covered and let only his eyes show a little bit. Then he started watching the players below. They were enjoying themselves tremendously.

  After a while his neighbor took a look at him. Now, Masaaw had been having such a good time watching the players that he stopped paying much attention to his blanket. He had uncovered his head and when the person lying next to him saw his face, the poor soul passed outright away. Masaaw was by now just as excited as the others down in the kiva. He was completely unaware that he had dropped his blanket. In the end he got so worked up that he didn’t even notice that he had entered the kiva.

  But someone had apparently heard him come in and announced to the others: “A stranger has come in.” However, the players paid no attention to him. Again and again the man tried to point it out to them. Finally they heard him. Their game stopped immediately and then all of them started running toward the northern wall base of the kiva.

  Masaaw, too, ran there with them. He had hardly reached them when they started running back to the southern base. And again he ran with them. Thus they kept running back and forth. They headed for the northern part, but he ran there, too. They tried to run away from him, but he kept running along beside them.

  According to him it was awfully spooky. Because he, too, had become scared, he kept fleeing back and forth with the others. After a while all the players had fainted and he stood there all by himself. Next to him people lay scattered on the floor.

  He ran out, snatched up his blanket, and ran all the way home. He entered the house so fast that he more or less tumbled in. Excited and nearly out of his mind, he gasped: “How horrible! How dreadful!”

  “What is it?” his grandmother asked.

  “Well, I was in Orayvi, and I entered the kiva where they were playing and competing with each other. All of a sudden something happened and all the players started dashing back and forth in the kiva. It was dreadful for me! Let me tell you, I will never go back there. Something white hovered over the men’s heads. It frightened me out of my wits. I really was scared stiff of that white thing, whatever it was. It was awful!”

  Thereupon his grandmother spoke: “So you entered the kiva?”

  “Yes, the people were having such a good time that I went in. And then, when I had been in there only for a few minutes, they all went crazy and started running from it, wherever it was.”

  “It was quite the contrary,” his grandmother interjected. “They were afraid of you because you look like a skeleton—and so they took to their heels when you scared them. That’s why you must never go there again. What you said scared you were only the white eagle feathers they wear in their hair. They can’t do you any harm.” With these explanations his grandmother chided him.

  In the kiva, meanwhile, as soon as somebody gained consciousness, he just got up and ran away home. Thus those boys and girls and men and women who tempted Masaaw to Orayvi got frightened to death. Again did they gamble in the kiva at night.

  From that day on Masaaw guarded Orayvi again. I suppose he is still making his inspection tour there somewhere. And there the story ends.

  PART FOURTEEN

  RAVEN LIGHTS THE WORLD

  HUNGRY FOR CLAMS

  {Hoh and Quileute}

  Long ago Raven was a man, a human being. He was lazy and he was a thief. He stole rather than fend for himself. He was always trying to scavenge, to get something without working for it. He was living at the end of a long rocky beach. A certain woman lived at the other end. This woman went down to the shore, saying: “I will dig clams while the tide is low.” She dug up a lot of clams. She had a basket. Each time it was full she went up on the beach and emptied it upon a reed mat. Whenever her basket was full she did this. The clams piled up. “This is good,” she said, “because I am very hungry.” She was digging clams the whole time during which the tide was low.

  Raven was walking along the beach. He happened to come across the woman’s pile of clams. “What a big heap of fine clams!” he exclaimed. “What luck to find clams without having to dig for them. How pleasant to get food without having to work for it!” He saw the woman digging clams in the distance. “She is far away,” he told himself. “She won’t see me.” Raven smacked his lips. Quickly he ate up all the clams. Then he hurried off with a full belly.

  The woman came back with another basket of clams. She discovered that all the clams she had piled up on her reed mat were gone. “I know who has done this,” she cried. “It was that no-good, thieving Raven who has stolen my clams!”

  The woman was very angry. She decided to get even with Raven. She had great powers, which she used to punish him. She fixed it so that Raven could not get a drink of water anywhere. The weather was hot. Raven was thirsty. He went to the stream to drink, but as soon as his lips touched the water it receded. He went to a pond. He cupped his hands to scoop up some water, but when he put his hands to his lips the water disappeared. His throat became parched for lack of moisture. His mouth was dry and his lips cracked. He was dying of thirst. He did not know what to do.

  Raven hit upon a plan. “I am going to fool this powerful woman,” he said. “I shall disguise myself.” He covered his body with feathers to make himself look like a bird. He made himself a bag from bird skins. He went to a stream to fill this skin-bag with water, but as soon as he lifted it to his lips to drink, all the water in the bag evaporated. He could do nothing to quench his awful thirst. He had not fooled the powerful woman.

  Raven saw his reflection in the stream. “With all those feathers stuck on me,” he said to himself, “I look like a bird. Well, I might as well be one.” And so Raven changed himself into a bird. He flew all over the country to find a place where he could get a drink of water. When he was far enough from the powerful woman (and her powers reached very far), he at last found such a place. Raven has been a bird ever since. But his nature did not change. He is still a thief and he is still lazy.

  GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK!

  {Haida}

  Yehl, the Raven, was a cheat, a thief, a selfish scrounger. What somebody else had, he wanted. Whatever he himself had, he kept. He was the most covetous and stingy fellow on earth. When people were talking, he always eavesdropped. Maybe he could snatch up a piece of information here and there that could be of use to him.

  There was a group of men coming back from fishing. They had beached their canoes and stood talking in a circle. Yehl crept up on them unseen. “Maybe they will reveal where the fish are biting,” he told himself.

  One man was relating a strange tale—he was saying: “Out there, beyond the lonely spruce tree, at the mouth of the river, way beyond, there is an island. It is always shrouded in fog. I don’t think anybody has gone there for years. A gale swept me there, swept my canoe high up on the beach. I found a village there of big houses with tall totem poles in front of them. These houses were filled with many treasures. One was full of many kinds of food—smoked salmon, halibut, dried fish, jerky meat, cured deer, elk and moose meat, fish roe, seal blubber—so many kinds of food I can’t remember them all. The house next to it is filled with objects ma
de from copper, and the house after this is filled with objects made from iron. Then there is a house full of carvings made from walrus ivory, and finally a house stuffed with the finest furs—otter, sable, silver fox, beaver, soft deerskins, and warm blankets made from animal pelts. And nobody lives there. The island is abandoned. It is very strange.”

  When Yehl heard this, he became terribly excited. His heart pounded. His brain heated up. “I must get to this island,” he cried. “I must get all these wonderful things!” In his mind he already owned them. He flew and hopped back to his home as fast as he could. He screeched, he rasped, he sputtered, he raved: “Wife, wife, come quickly! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Help me get our canoe into the water. Be quick!”

  “What is the matter, husband?” asked Yehl’s wife. “It is already afternoon. It is too late to go fishing.”

  “Who’s talking of fishing?” croaked Yehl. “There is an island out there with a whole village full of wonderful treasures. I must have them. Hurry, hurry, before anyone gets there first!”

  “That would be stealing,” said his wife. “These wonderful treasures must belong to someone.”

  “How could I have married such a stupid woman?” screeched Yehl. “That stuff belongs to nobody. It belongs to whoever finds it! The people who lived there died long ago. Or they moved away. Or, if they should still be around, they don’t deserve those wonderful things, because they don’t take proper care of them. Hurry, hurry!”