Tricksters: Iktomi and the Buffalo Skull

So, I'm pretty excited about this! It's a NEW bibliography project at the Internet Archive... tricksters! Now that the Reader's Guide to African Folktales is done, and the Diaspora Folktales Guide is well underway (I'm drafting the book now!), so I decided that the best Guide to do next would be tricksters. Learning about tricksters is my own personal focus for the foreseeable future (I'm doing a NaNoWriMo trickster project; more about that on November 1), and I realized that people might appreciate a guide to trickster resources at the Archive. :-)

So, just like with the previous Guides, I'll prepare by blogging every day about a different book here, covering a range of trickster resources, but focusing on actual stories, including both anthologies and single-story children's books. I'll start with one of Paul Goble's series of books about the Native American trickster Iktomi: Iktomi and the Buffalo Skull: A Plains Indian Story.

Goble both writes and illustrates these books; you can find out more about Goble's life and career at Wikipedia.

Iktomi is the Spider trickster of the Sioux people, but Goble introduces Iktomi in his human form, speaking to us in the first-person. Here is how Iktomi introduces himself, boasting about his fine appearance of course, I look good!

Goble then switches to third-person, telling us the story of how Iktomi got his head stuck in a buffalo-skull... it involves the partying Mouse People! Just look at them singing and dancing:

In addition to the fabulous storytelling, which goes back and forth between Iktomi and the narrator, Goble also provides detailed references, which is very helpful (click on the image for a larger view):

Even better: there is a note to the reader, as Goble invites the audience to participate in the storytelling, adding their own remarks about Iktomi's behavior; there are lots of questions and prompts for the audience throughout the story.

In addition to this beautiful book, you can find these other books in Goble's Iktomi series at the Archive: Iktomi and the Ducks, Iktomi and the Boulder, Iktomi and the Berries, Iktomi and the Buzzard, Iktomi and the Coyote, and Iktomi Loses His Eyes. Yes, they are all just a click away, waiting for you to read and enjoy them. So... read and enjoy!

Iktomi and the Buffalo Skull:
A Plains Indian Story
by Paul Goble