Customer Reviews

American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends)

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3 star:		(1)
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American Indian Trickster Tales is a great way to spend the time, be it on a train, boat or jet. Myths and legends about the Coyote, the Spider-Man, the Raven and Master Rabbit. Shape shifters, fill of greed and cunning, this characters are always getting into trouble. The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes gross and sometimes a tad kinky, but they are old as the first humans to come to America and play an important part of Indian culture, past and present. But NOT for kids.

If you like trickster tales or are interested in Native American folklore this is a great book. The stories are well told, the book itself is well organized. I love that the tales list what tribes they come from, it gives you a great sense of the different Trickster figures that appear in Native legends and stories. This is a must have book for anyone studying Native American stories and legends.

This classic collection of American Indian trickster tales is a must read for anyone with any kind of interest in American Indian culture and/or literature.

This is a well written group of trickster tales. It gives us a glimpse of what the Native Americans used to teach their children. The Trickster Tales gives the average person the ability to enjoy a piece of Native American culture. Pick up this book and you will read about a trickster tale lesson!

For many years the "Trickster" and it's charecteristic was unknown to me. I heard this name everywhere when it came to native american studies, but I never knew how important is to get to know my own Trickster. this book help us all to find that within us.

North American Indian literature apparently stands alone in its willingness to publicly integrate the profane into the oral storytelling tradition. These stories--some already familiar to me through my former readings in American Indian mythology, most new--are captivating and clever. They are notable purely as art literature, apparently serving no etiologic purpose. If you enjoy these stories, take a look at the Winnebago trickster cycle as narrated in Paul Radin's "The Trickster." Radin's wacky character, by way of his X-rated adventures, ends up establishing much of the Winnebago cosmos.

The stories are offered with little, if any, moral ending. I expected to read the stories and have a sentence or two at the end summarizing why (or why not) the described behaviour is bad.
Also, one reviewer mentioned that the book is not for kids. I concur. This was supposed to be for my 14 year-old's birthday, but the numerous stories about "interactions" between animals and women was a bit too much for me to provide to my boy.