A universal figure, the trickster is often considered one of the most ancient of the gods in many cultures. Typically in Native American oral mythology, he takes the form of an animal. For the Great Plains Indians, the trickster is identified with the spider, Iktomi, though he can change his form like many other trickster figures. Part of the larger Sioux tribe, the Lakota people are the westernmost of the Dakota-Lakota peoples.
Iktomi (also Ikto, Inktomi, and Unktome, depending on differences in the various tribal languages), according to one tradition, was originally known as Ksa, a god associated with wisdom who had his title stripped because of the mischief he constantly created. In this way, the strict division between wisdom and folly is called into question through the acts of Iktomi, evidenced by the fact that Iktomi’s plans often backfire. Many trickster tales are told for entertainment, but because of Iktomi’s tendency to seek mischief, he often comes across as a negative role model, often for his association with bawdy behavior.
In many stories, Iktomi is lecherous. In one tale, he seduces a naive young woman by disguising himself as an older woman. When they go bathing, the young woman notices his penis and asks what it is. Iktomi responds that it is a kind of growth, like a wart, which has been caused to grow there by an evil magician. Worried, the naive woman asks if there is a way to get rid of the growth. Iktomi explains that the only thing to do is to stick it between the young girl’s legs. The ignorant girl allows him to do so several times before she acknowledges that she doesn’t think that it is working. Iktomi concedes that she is probably right but suggests that they try one last time to be sure.
But Iktomi isn’t always successful in his sexual pursuits. In one instance, his wife discovers his plan to sleep with a young girl, so she talks the girl into allowing her to take her place. In this way, Iktomi is tricked into sleeping with his own wife. The next morning he is turned out of his tipi by his wife, but when he becomes hungry, having had no breakfast, he returns home and sweet-talks himself back into his wife’s good graces.
In another story, Iktomi is once again outwitted by his wife after taking her for granted. Having invited his friend Coyote for dinner, he has his wife cook two buffalo livers for his friend and himself, promising to give her any of the leftovers. He then goes out to hunt. Meanwhile, his wife becomes hungry and, knowing that the men won’t share the delicious livers, begins eating the dinner she has prepared. Coyote arrives shortly after and wonders what is for dinner. Seeing a way out, Iktomi’s wife explains that they are having what they always eat when they invite guests for dinner—the guest’s “balls” or testicles. She feigns getting a knife to cut them off, and Coyote runs away. When Iktomi returns, he asks what became of the livers, and his wife responds that Coyote took them both and ran away. Iktomi then chases after Coyote, calling, “Wait! Let me at least have one,” to which Coyote replies, “If you catch me, you can have them both.”
Trickster tales reveal much about the culture of which they are a part, both the humor of the people and the lessons they want to teach their children. Still, while Iktomi is often used as a negative example, in some traditions he is also credited with the “dream catcher,” having spun his web within a willow hoop to filter the good ideas of the people from the bad.
W. Todd Martin
See also Anansi/Anancy; Azeban; Coyote Tales; Great Hare; Trickster Rabbit; Tricksters, Native American
Further Reading
Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. 1999. American Indian Trickster Tales. New York: Penguin Books.
Hyde, Lewis. 1998. Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Lankford, George E. 2011. Native American Legends of the Southeast: Tales from the Natchez, Caddo, Biloxi, Chickasaw, and Other Nations. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.