The trickster figure of Native American literature was first popularized by the American anthropologist Paul Radin (l. 1883-1959), who highlighted the cultural/mythological character developed by many Native American nations as a supernatural entity primarily associated with transformation. The trickster figure appears in the legends of Native peoples of North America from coast to coast.
The following collection presents some of the most famous – as well as lesser known – tales featuring the trickster figure, who appears in various forms and is sometimes a hero, a villain, a fool, a wise man, a rogue, a clown, a champion, or a victim. The various roles of the trickster suggest his nature as an agent of transformation. Tales were fashioned to encourage an audience to consider their own behavior and change whatever aspects in themselves that they found offensive in the trickster or, in the stories where he appears as the hero, to model their outlook and actions on his own.
