Trickster tales are great favorites in many cultures. They often use an animal, who represents the underdog, that uses skill and cunning to outwit a superior. Black slaves often used trickster tales in their storytelling. They identified with the small but cunning animal that fooled a more powerful bully such as the plantation owner. People around the world find trickster tales both entertaining and amusing and receive satisfaction from knowing that a smaller, and often weaker, creature has bested a larger and more powerful adversary.
Sometimes the trickster animal is characterized as being himself greedy, imitative, stupid, pretentious and deceitful. In the Native American mythology, he attempts trickery in many forms but very often gets tricked himself. Sometimes, though, the people in the community benefit by the trickster's thievery and deceitfulness. But usually the trickster is clever enough to come out a winner.
In the North Pacific Coast, Trickster may be a Raven, Mink, or Bluejay. In the Plateau, in the Great Basin, in California, in the the Southwest, and in parts of the western Plains, the Coyote is the trickster par excellence. He is the best known of all North American Indian tricksters. Coyote stories also abound in the Hispanic culture. Other animals that are used in these stories are the rabbit along with the hare and Wisakedjak (Whiskey Jack). In South America, a fox plays the major role in many of their stories. The trickster's companions are also very important because they sometimes serve as stooges for the trickster and at other times completely outwit him. These roles are played by the Fox, Wolf, Wildcat, Lynx and other animals such as the alligator.
Black folk tales, including the Trickster tales, were brought to the United States by Africans, who had been captured in their homeland and then brought to this new country where they were sold as slaves. They were separated and isolated from their people. They were not supposed to speak their own languages. They weren't allowed to learn to read and write. They were compelled to do hard labor and were warned never to run away. Out of these dire circumstances arose a spirit that made life bearable. This was often expressed in the riddles and jokes made up and in the tales that were told. The stories were often an expression of the experiences which they underwent. In the introduction to her book
The People Could Fly ,
Virginia Hamilton tells us that "the slaves created tales in which various animals—such as the rabbit, fox, bear, wolf, turtle or terrapin, snake, and possum—took on the characteristics of the people found in the new environment of the plantation. (p. x)" Brer or Bruh Rabbit became a favorite of the storytellers. He was "small and apparently helpless compared to the powerful bear, the wily fox, and the ferocious wolf. But the slaveteller made the rabbit smart, tricky, and clever, the winner over larger and stronger animals. Still, Bruh Rabbit sometimes got into trouble, just as the slaves did, which made him seem all the more human." (p. x).
These tales were once a creative way for an oppressed people to express their fears and hopes to one another. They were created out of sorrow, but the stories transcended their environment and turned many an unbearable day into one of smiles, chuckles, and rollicking laughter.
One of the stories which I have chosen for this unit is the "Leaf Monster" which is told by Teresa Piojan de van Etten in her book
Spanish-American Folktales,
in which she has collected folk tales enjoyed by the Spanish-speaking people in the south-western area of the United States. There are more trickster tales in this book.
Coyote is the the trickster in this story. He creates so much havoc in the village, by chasing the chickens, scaring the pigs, etc., that the village men decide to capture and cage him. In order to avoid this, Coyote offers to help the shoemaker by delivering some special shoes to the beekeeper's daughter. He sets out and hears the beekeeper making his way down the path. He drops one shoe at a time and distracts the beekeeper. The beekeeper lays his container of honey down beside the road while he tries to locate the two shoes. Coyote steals the honey and eats it. A fly gets stuck to his honey-covered snout. He tries to shake off the fly but to no avail and so he rolls on the ground in an effort to get rid of it. Somehow, the fly escapes but meanwhile Coyote's sticky fur is now matted with sticks, leaves, dirt, and other debris from off the ground. As he tries to escape this mess, he meets the men with the cage for him. The men see this monster, drop the cage, and run screaming in fear. Meanwhile, Coyote is very tired and goes to the river to get a drink and swim. The river assuages his thirst and washes off his excess baggage. When he comes out of the river, he finds the whole village looking for the monster and when they see that the monster is no one but coyote, they laugh and declare that they cannot take Coyote away because he makes them laugh.
The second story is from a Virginia Hamilton's collection of Black folk tales and is entitled "Bruh Alligator Meets Trouble." In this story Bruh Rabbit teaches naive Bruh Alligator what trouble is by playing a trick on him. The story also explains how the alligator got its skin looking the way it does and why it lives so close to the river.
Suggested Activities
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1. Oral reading of the stories.
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These stories were passed from one generation to the next via the oral tradition, and therefore, especially those written in a dialect, lend themselves to oral reading. The students would need to be prepared ahead of time and taught how to read the story e.g. they would need to know how to pronounce certain sounds such as the substitution of the "d" sound for the "th" sound, and to understand the double negative, the inflection of strong verbs as though they were weak, the use of pronouns, etc.
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2. Learning the Gullah vocabulary and pronunciation of its words. Hamilton lists them at the end of "Bruh Alligator Meets Trouble."
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3. Researching and finding other trickster tales in the libraries, either in compilations or in single volumes. This will necessitate prior instruction in the use of a card catalog or the library's computer system. Locating the books in a library, with the information found in the catalog or the computer, will also be a learning experience.
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4. Writing down trickster stories which have been heard at home.
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5. Analyzing the trickster stories chosen for this unit by identifying the main characters, determining their location or setting, deciding if the animal characters have the necessary character traits to get the job done, explaining the means used to accomplish the task, and determining whether the outcome justified the means.
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6. Class discussion on setting goals and the various means of reaching them. Are some strategies more successful than others? Why or Why not? Does the end justify the means? etc.
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7. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast various aspects of the trickster tales chosen for this unit.
The Teachers' Bibliography lists additional sources of trickster tales.