LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Trickster Tales: Coyote Fights
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Native American trickster tales are similarly interested in the inversion of social norms and the breaking of boundaries; their tales of Coyote and other supernatural characters celebrate the trickster as simultaneously vulgar and sacred, wise and foolish, but always surviving. In Charles Alexander Eastman's transcription of the traditional Sioux tale of the trickster turtle, Turtle's strategies exactly parallel Brer Rabbit's. Just as Brer Rabbit uses reverse psychology to convince Brer Fox to throw him into a briar patch--the environment in which he is most comfortable--so does Turtle convince his captors to confine him in water, a fluid medium which of course allows him to escape. The identity of the trickster continues to resonate in Native American culture today. Harry Fonseca's playful paintings about Coyote testify to the figure's enduring cultural importance. Fonseca's representations of Coyote show him skillfully mediating between the "old ways" and the new: in Coyote in Front of Studio, Coyote pairs a modern leather jacket and high-top sneakers with a traditional Plains Indian war bonnet and pipe bag.
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" [Navajo] Trickster tales relate to foolish, mischievous and occasionally disastrous activities of trotting Coyote. They describe encounters with other animals and beings, attempts to trick them, to become like them or to outwit them, attempts which inevitably rebound. Coyote's characteristics here are ... of the typical Trickster figure: greedy, vain, foolish, cunning and, occasionally, displaying a high degree of power....
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The trickster-tale genre of folklore appears in some form in every culture, and many examples are available. The Chaco people of Colombia and Panama tell tales of Fox; like Coyote, he is always bested. In the Amazon the trickster's dual nature is embodied by the Twins: one brother whose tricks always end badly and another who builds order and harmony from the ensuing chaos. Numerous Oceanian tales recount the creative exploits of the trickster Maui, or Maui-tiki-tiki, as when he caught the first land like a fish and pulled it from the sea. The Australian Aborigine trickster Bamapana is known for his vulgar language, lustful behaviour, and delight in discord. Japan's Kitsune is a trickster fox renowned for his mischievous metamorphic abilities.
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French anthropologists have occasionally approached the trickster theme and then interpreted it in characteristic French terms. In his pioneering article on the structural study of myth, (first published in 1955), Claude Lévi-Strauss tries to "perceive some basic logical processes which are at the root of mythical thought." Thus he tries to bring order out of chaos and he places the trickster, until now a problematic figure, in "mythical thought" which according to him always progresses from oppositions to their resolution. He refers for instance to Coyote, which he characterises as a carrion-eater (for Lévi-Strauss does not make a difference between the biological animal and the folkloristic hero), as intermediary in binary oppositions between herbivorous and carnivorous animals (Lévi-Strauss 1963:224f). It is difficult to understand how such a theory could "explain" the trickster. Is not the dominant opposition the one between culture hero and destructive trickster?
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The trickster, in later folklore or modern popular culture, is a clever, mischievous person or creature, who survives in a dangerous world through use of trickery. An archetypical example is the fairy tale of the King who puts suitors for his daughter to the test. No brave and valiant prince or knight succeeds, until a simple peasant arrives. Aided only by his natural wit, he evades danger and triumphs over monsters and villains without fighting. Thus the most unlikely candidate passes the trials and receives the prize. Modern examples of this type are Bugs Bunny and The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin).
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In later folklore, the trickster is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. For example many typical fairy tales have the King who wants to find the best groom for his daughter by ordering several trials. No brave and valiant prince or knight manages to win them, until a poor and simple peasant comes. With the help of his wits and cleverness, instead of fighting, he evades or fools monsters and villains and dangers with unorthodox manners. Therefore the most unlikely candidate passes the trials and receives the reward. More modern and obvious examples of that type are Bugs Bunny and The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) (see list).
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Coyote Fights