American Indian trickster tales

Coyote creates the world and a few other things: Beginning of the world (Yokuts)

Sun and moon in a box (Zuni)

Coyote steals the sun (Miwok)

Origin of the moon and the sun (Kalispel)

How people were made (Miwok)

Coyote steals the summer (Crow)

Coyote and eagle visit the land of the dead (Yakima)

Coyote steals fire (Klamath)

Coyote kills terrible monster (Salish)

Seven devils mountains (Nez Perce)

Up to no good: Coyote taunts the grizzly bear (Kutenai)

How locust tricked coyote (Zuni)

Coyote-giving (Paiute)

Putting a saddle on coyote's back (Northern Pueblo)

Satisfying meal (Hopi)

Strong heart (Arikara)

Better luck next time (Hopi)

Long ears outsmarts coyote (Pueblo)

Old man coyote and the buffalo (Crow)

Coyote and bobcat have their faces done (Ute)

Adventures of a meatball (Comanche)

Coyote gets stuck (Shasta)

Anything but pinon pitch! (Navajo)

Fat , grease, and berries (Crow)

Don't be too curious (Lakota)

Coyote's amorous adventures: Coyote's amorous adventures (Shasta)

Two rascals and their wives (Pueblo)

Coyote sleeps with his own daughters (Southern Ute)

Old man coyote meets coyote woman (Blackfoot)

Coyote and fox dress up (Nez Perce)

Coyote and the girls (Karok and Yurok)

Coyote keeps his dead wife's genitals (Lipan Apache)

Toothed vagina (Yurok)

Something fishy going on (Athapascan)

Where do babies come from? (Karuk)

Winyan-shan upside down (Sioux)

Trouble with rose hips: Coyote, skunk, and the beavers (Wichita)

Monster skunk farting everyone to death (Cree)

Coyote sells a burro that defecates money (Lipan Apache)

Coyote the credulous (Taos)

Trouble with rose hips (Lipan apache)

Iktomi the spider-man: Seven toes (Assiniboine)

Tricking the trickster (Sioux)

Iktomi and the man-eating monster (Lakota)

Iktomi, flint boy, and the grizzly (Lakota)

Iktomi and the buffalo calf (Assiniboine)

Ikto's grandchild defeats Siyoko (Rosebud Sioux)

Cheater cheated (Lakota)

Spider cries "wolf" (Rosebud Sioux)

Tit for tat (Omaha)

Iktomi takes back a gift (Rosebud Sioux)

Iktomi and the wild ducks (Minneconjou Sioux)

Iktomi trying to outrace beaver (Santee)

Too smart for his own good (Sioux)

Spider-man in love: Oh, it's you! (Lakota)

Too many women (Lakota)

Forbidden fruit (Lakota and rosebud Sioux)

Spiders give birth to the people (Arikara)

Winkte way (Omaha)

Veeho cycle: He has been saying bad things about you (Northern Cheyenne)

Possible bag (Northern Cheyenne)

Hair loss (Northern Cheyenne)

Brother, sharpen my leg! (Cheyenne)

Veeho has his back scraped (Northern Cheyenne)

He sure was a good shot (Cheyenne)

Only man around (Northern Cheyenne)

Nixant and sitconski cycles: When the people were wild (Gros ventre)

Talking penis (Gros ventre)

Hairy legs (Gros ventre)

Sitconski and the buffalo skull (Assiniboine)

She refused to have him (Assiniboine)

Ni'hancan and whirlwind woman (Arapaho)

Ni'hancan and the race for wives (Arapaho)

Magical master rabbit: Little rabbit fights the sun (Ute)

Long black stranger (Omaha)

Why the possum's tail is bare (Cherokee)

Rabbit escapes from the box (Creek)

Rabbit and possum on the prowl (Cherokee)

Tar baby (Biloxi)

Don't believe what people tell you (San Ildefonso and San Juan)

Nanabozho and Whiskey Jack: Nanabozho and the fish chief (Great Lakes tribes)

Why we have to work so hard making maple sugar (Menomini)

Who is looking me in the face? (Menomini)

Why women have their moon-time (Menomini)

Whiskey Jack wants to fly (Cree and Metis)

Wesakaychak, the windigo, and the ermine (Cree and Metis)

Old man napi chooses a wife: Choosing mates (Blackfoot)

Napi races coyote for a meal (Blackfoot)

Magic Leggings (Blackfoot)

Glooskap the great: How the lord of men and beasts strove with the mighty wasis and was shamefully defeated (Penobscot)

Glooskap turns men into rattlesnakes (Passamaquoddy)

Kuloskap and the ice-giants (Passamaquoddy)

Questions, questions (Passamaquoddy)

New way to travel (Micmac)

Glooskap grants four wishes (Micmac)

Puff of his pipe (Micmac)

Skeleton man: While the gods snored (Hopi)

How Masaaw slept with a beautiful maiden (Hopi)

Scared to death (Hopi)

Raven lights the world: Hungry for clams (Hoh and quileute)

Give it back! Give it back! (Haida)

Raven steals the moon (Haida)

Yehl, the lazy one (Haida)

Raven and his slave (Tsimshian)

A lousy fisherman (Haida)

Raven lights the world (Tlingit)

Appendix

Sources

Index of tales.

Introduction

PART ONE. COYOTE CREATES THE WORLD- AND A FEW OTHER THINGS. The beginning of the world (Yokuts)

Sun and moon in a box (Zuni)

Coyote steals the sun (Miwok)

Origin of the moon and the sun (Kalispel)

How people were made (Miwok)

Coyote steals the summer (Crow)

Coyote and Eagle visit the land of the dead (Yakima)

Coyote steals fire (Klamath)

Coyote kills terrible monster (Salish)

The seven devils mountains (Nez Perce)

PART TWO. UP TO NO GOOD. Coyote taunts the grizzly bear (Kutenai)

How Locust tricked Coyote (Zuni)

Coyote-giving (Paiute)

Putting a saddle on Coyote's back (Northern Pueblo)

A satisfying meal (Hopi)

A strong heart (Arikara)

Better luck next time (Hopi)

Long ears outsmarts Coyote (Pueblo)

Old man Coyote and the buffalo (Crow)

Coyote and Bobcat have their faces done (Ute)

The adventures of a meatball (Comanche)

Coyote gets stuck (Shasta)

Anything but piñon pitch! (Navajo)

Fat, grease, and berries (Crow)

Don't be too curious (Lakota)

PART THREE. COYOTE'S AMOROUS ADVENTURES. Coyote's amorous adventures (Shasta)

Two rascals and their wives (Pueblo)

Coyote sleeps with his own daughters (Southern Ute)

Old man Coyote meets Coyote woman (Blackfoot)

Coyote and Fox dress up (Nez Perce)

Coyote and the girls (Karok and Yurok)

Coyote keeps his dead wife's genitals (Lipan Apache)

The toothed vagina (Yurok)

Something fishy going on (Athapascan)

Where do babies come from? (Karuk)

Winyan-shan upside down (Sioux)

PART FOUR. THE TROUBLE WITH ROSE HIPS. Coyote, Skunk, and the beavers (Wichita)

Monster skunk farting everyone to death (Cree)

Coyote sells a burro that defecates money (Lipan Apache)

Coyote the credulous (Taos)

The trouble with rose hips (Lipan apache)

PART FIVE. IKTOMI THE SPIDER MAN. Seven toes (Assiniboine)

Tricking the trickster (Sioux)

Iktomi and the man-eating monster (Lakota)

Iktomi, Flint boy, and the grizzly (Lakota)

Iktomi and the buffalo calf (Assiniboine)

Ikto's grandchild defeats Siyoko (Rosebud Sioux)

The cheater cheated (Lakota)

The spider cries "wolf" (Rosebud Sioux)

Tit for tat (Omaha)

Iktomi takes back a gift (Rosebud Sioux)

Iktomi and the wild ducks (Minneconjou Sioux)

Iktomi trying to outrace Beaver (Santee)

Too smart for his own good (Sioux)

PART SIX. SPIDER-MAN IN LOVE. Oh, it's you! (Lakota)

Too many women (Lakota)

Forbidden fruit (Lakota and Rosebud Sioux)

The spiders give birth to the people (Arikara)

The winkte way (Omaha)

PART SEVEN. THE VEEHO CYCLE. He has been saying bad things about you (Northern Cheyenne)

The possible bag (Northern Cheyenne)

Hair loss (Northern Cheyenne)

Brother, sharpen my leg! (Cheyenne)

Veeho has his back scraped (Northern Cheyenne)

He sure was a good shot (Cheyenne)

The only man around (Northern Cheyenne)

PART EIGHT. THE NIXANT AND SITCONSKI CYCLES. When the people were wild (Gros Ventre)

The talking penis (Gros Ventre)

Hairy legs (Gros Ventre)

Sitconski and the buffalo skull (Assiniboine)

She refused to have him (Assiniboine)

Ni'hancan and Whirlwind woman (Arapaho)

Ni'hancan and the race for wives (Arapaho)

PART NINE. MAGICAL MASTER RABBIT. Little rabbit fights the sun (Ute)

The long black stranger (Omaha)

Why the possum's tail is bare (Cherokee)

Rabbit escapes from the box (Creek)

Rabbit and Possum on the prowl (Cherokee)

Tar baby (Biloxi)

Don't believe what people tell you (San Ildefonso or San Juan)

PART TEN. NANABOZHO AND WHISKEY JACK. Nanabozho and the fish chief (Great Lakes tribes)

Why we have to work so hard making maple sugar (Menomini)

Who is looking me in the face? (Menomini)

Why women have their moon-time (Menomini)

Whiskey Jack wants to fly (Cree and Metis)

Wesakaychak, the windigo, and the ermine (Cree and Metis)

PART ELEVEN. OLD MAN NAPI CHOOSES A WIFE. Choosing mates (Blackfoot)

Napi races Coyote for a meal (Blackfoot)

Magic Leggings (Blackfoot)

PART TWELVE. GLOOSKAP THE GREAT. How the lord of men and beasts strove with the mighty Wasis and was shamefully defeated (Penobscot)

Glooskap turns men into rattlesnakes (Passamaquoddy)

Kuloskap and the ice-giants (Passamaquoddy)

Questions, questions (Passamaquoddy)

A new way to travel (Micmac)

Glooskap grants four wishes (Micmac)

A puff of his pipe (Micmac)

PART THIRTEEN. SKELETON MAN. While the gods snored (Hopi)

How Masaaw slept with a beautiful maiden (Hopi)

Scared to death (Hopi)

PART FOURTEEN. RAVEN LIGHTS THE WORLD. Hungry for clams (Hoh and Quileute)

Give it back! Give it back! (Haida)

Raven steals the moon (Haida)

Yehl, the lazy one (Haida)

Raven and his slave (Tsimshian)

A lousy fisherman (Haida)

Raven lights the world (Tlingit)

Appendix

Sources

Index of tales.