American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends) (18 page)

{
Assiniboine
}

 

All the earth was flooded with water. Iktomi sent animals to dive for dirt at the bottom of the sea. No animal was able to get any. At last he sent the Muskrat. It came up dead, but with dirt in his claws. Iktomi saw the dirt, took it, and made the earth out of it.

Iktomi was wearing a wolfskin robe. He said, “There shall be as many months as there are hairs on this skin before it shall be summer.”

Frog said, “If the winter lasts as long as that, no creature will be able to live. Seven months of winter will be enough.” He kept on repeating this, until Iktomi got angry and killed him. Still Frog stuck out seven of his toes. Finally, Iktomi consented and said there should be seven winter months.

Iktomi then created men and horses out of dirt. Some of the Assiniboine and other northern tribes had no horses. Iktomi told the Assiniboine that they were always to steal horses from other tribes.

{
Sioux
}

At one time there lived two little boys and their grandmother in the west. She is always telling them stories about Ikto, Iktomi, the smart-ass Spider-Man. They want to know whether Iktomi is a man or a spider. He is both; he is a spirit of the mind. These boys are listening to their grandmother’s voice. They say: “Things that we don’t know, we want to know.”

Some people talk Iktomi language; they are right and they are wrong, they are smart-foolish. Iktomi, Ikto, can do anything, almost. He tricks people and he can be tricked.

One day Iktomi is walking, looking for something to eat. He is hungry. All of a sudden he sees
mastinčala,
a bunch of rabbits. Iktomi likes rabbit stew, but the
mastinčala
is very fast. Too fast for him. The rabbits are having a feast.

“Hau, kola,
friends, how are you?” says Iktomi as he approaches the rabbits. “I see you are having a powwow. But you don’t sing good. You hardly sing at all. You see that bundle I carry on my back? In this bundle I have all the good songs. Just what you need for your feast.”

“Open the bundle,” say the rabbits. “Let us have some songs to dance by.”

“No, no,
hiya,
I can’t give you these songs for nothing.” “We will give you something good for your songs, like these fine
timpsila,
wild turnips, here, and these fine leaves to nibble on.”

Ikto doesn’t like
timpsíla
or leaves. He likes meat, rabbit meat. “Friends, whatever you’ll give me, these songs are too sacred.”

“Oh, but we want so much to dance.”

“Ohan,
cousins, since you want it so much, I’ll sing you some songs. I’ll open the bundle and let out some rabbit songs and the rabbit dance. But this is powerful medicine. You must dance two by two and keep your eyes closed all the time, real tight, or your eyes will turn red. You might go blind.”

Ikto sings the rabbit dance song and the
wastinčala
dance until they are tired. Ikto is looking to see which one is the fattest. “Cousins, don’t look around. Keep your eyes closed or you’ll go blind. These songs are powerful!” Iktomi takes a club out of his bundle—that’s the only thing in there, a club—and he knocks the four fattest rabbits on the head.

One smart little rabbit opens one eye. He starts shouting: “Brothers, Iktomi is going to kill us all.” So all the other rabbits run away.

Ikto says to himself: “Well, I got more than enough. Those stupid
mastinčala.
I’ll have a good feast now.
Lila talo ota—
lots of good meat.” He makes a fire and starts to cook those rabbits.

On the other side of the hill are two young coyotes. They smell something. Something good: roasting meat. Their noses are twitching. One coyote comes down the hill, the other circles around and sneaks up behind a clump of trees. There are two trees, an oak and an ash, close together. In the wind the trunks are rubbing together, making a mournful sound.

“
Hau, mishunkala,
” says the coyote who came down from the hill to Iktomi. “Listen to what the spirit in that tree is telling you.”

“I can’t make it out.”

“You can’t? And I thought you were smart. He’s hungry. He’s saying: ‘Give me some of that meat and I’ll give you a very valuable present in return.’ ”

The trees go on making that sad noise. “Be quiet,” says Iktomi. “I’ll give you something to eat.”

“Be careful,” says the coyote. “You can’t trust nobody these days. The valuable gift is where the trees form a cross. In that crotch you will find it. And put the meat in there. Be careful.”

“I can take care of myself,
pilamaya,”
says Iktomi, and goes over to the trees.

“First get the present before you put the meat there,” the coyote advises him.

Iktomi puts his hand into the crotch, trying to find his present. The second coyote does something to make the trees snap together and Iktomi’s hand is caught. It hurts. He can’t free himself. He has to watch while the coyotes eat up the good meat. “Cousins, save me a little meat,” he begs, but the coyotes just laugh. They eat everything up, even the bones.

So that Trickster is tricked. A big wind comes and knocks the trees apart. Iktomi falls down. All the food is gone except the four heads. Iktomi walks on. All of a sudden he hears a song. He sees a buffalo skull lying there and out of it comes this song. He looks in through an eye socket and he sees all these little yellow bugs, the
tumunga,
dancing and having a powwow. He sees this big yellow bug singing. Steady and slow. “Cousins, what are you going to eat at your feast?”

“There’s plenty of
tunkče,
honey.”

“Cousins, let me come in and dance with you.” He says this, but all he is thinking was how to get the honey.

The bees know what he is up to. Iktomi is going around the skull trying to find a way to get in. The yellow bugs say to each other, whispering : “Let’s trap that wicked spider.” Aloud they say: “Stick your head in through the eye hole here and lick up that good
tunkče
we are having.”

Iktomi does as they tell him and his head gets stuck. He can’t go ahead and he can’t go back. “Cousins,” he cries, “pity me. Let me go.” But the
tumunga
fly away. Iktomi stumbles around with his head in the buffalo skull. He tries to shake it loose, but he stays caught.

Just nearby two young boys are playing with bow and arrows, with Indian slingshots. They come across Ikto. With his little body and the big buffalo skull, he is quite some sight. “What’s your name?” ask the boys.

When he hears the boys, the Spider-Man cries: “I’m Iktomi. Help me get this thing off. In return I’ll help you.”

“What can you do?”

“I can do most everything. I’m all-powerful.”

“Then why don’t you knock that skull off by yourself?”

“This is a very special case.” So the boys knock the skull apart with a rock and free Ikto. Iktomi tells them: “I can do everything. Whoever believes in me, I do great things for him. But first you must bring me deer meat. Plenty of it.”

“And what will you give us?”

“Before the sun goes down bring me a piece from the rays of the sun, and ten rawhides. Find a mud turtle. Whenever the mud turtle farts, put the farts in this medicine bag here. That’s powerful medicine. And bring me the heart of the tiniest ant. This medicine will give you many good songs and stories.”