(93) Then Trickster went to a particular place. There, as he went along, he came in sight of a lake there. So he came towards the edge of the lake. (94) He came nearer. To his surprise, near the edge of the lake someone was standing. There he went. He stood there wearing a black shirt. There he went. To his surprise, he was pointing across the lake. (95) He went to him there and he said, "Kodé! my younger brother, what are you pointing at?" (96) After he said it, he was not answered. Again he did not (answer). "My younger brother, what are you pointing at?" Useless. Again he asked the third time, "My younger brother, what is it that you are pointing at?" It was useless. There no person said a thing like he thought he would. (97) Again the fourth time he asked him, but he did not now answer him. Thus he continued pointing across. Thus it was. "Well, hahó. We'll do that. What? Me too. (98) Likewise, I can point for a long time once I have put on the black shirt," he said. He put on a black shirt. Thus he did and he quickly stepped along side of him. (99) Also where he was pointing, there Trickster pointed. Thus he stood indefinitely. In the course of time, Trickster's arm got tired. He said, "My younger brother, so let's be done with this," said he, but he was still not answering. (100) Again a second time he said, when he could not hold on any longer, "My younger brother, so let's be done with this. My arm is tired," he said, but he was not answered. Thus he said repeatedly, but he was never answered. (101) "My younger brother, I am hungry. Let's eat, then we'll begin again. I will kill a very fine animal. (102) Whatever one you like, I will kill one of that kind. So let's quit," he had said, but he received no answer. "Howa, what am I saying? This one, one whose heart has slipped through him, the thing he is doing, I am doing too," he said. (103) He walked away from him. When he looked back at him, to his astonishment, he was a stump. When he had said that it was pointing, he had been refering to one whose branch had extended out. (104) There said, "Hohó! it is because of this the people have called me "foolish." It is even as they have said," he said. And away he walked. [1]

The following is not so much another variant as another narrative of the same story. It was given in the course of a homily presented in the Christian Peyote service.

"Once, as the Trickster was going toward a creek, he saw a man standing on the other side, dressed in a black suit, and pointing his finger at him. He spoke to the man but the latter would not answer. Then he spoke again and again, but without receiving any reply. Finally he got angry and said, "See here! I can do that too." He put on the black coat and pointed his finger across the creek. Thus both of them stood all day. Toward evening when he looked around again, he noticed that he man across the creek pointing his finger at him was really just a tree stump. 'O my, what have I been doing all this time? Why did I not look before I began? No wonder the people call me the Foolish One.'

So are we Winnebagoes. We never look before we set. We do everything without thinking. We think we know all about it." [2]

Commentary. It is interesting that Trickster sees the stump as a man dressed in black, since Wood Spirits are said to be dressed completely in black when they assume human form. [3]

Comparative Material. This story has something of a parallel among the Maya. The Popol Vul relates the story of the Twins, Hun-Apu and Xbalanque. They were going into the underworld to play ball with the gods there. "After crossing a river of blood, they came to the palace of the Lords of Xibalba, where they espied two seated figures in front of them. Thinking that they recognised in them Hun-Came and Vukub-Came, they saluted them in a becoming manner, only to discover to their mortification that they were addressing fifurcs of wood. This incident excited the ribald jeers of the Xibalbans, who scoffed at the brothers." [4]

The Natchez have a tar baby version of this tale. All the animals got together to dig a well, but while the hard work was going on, Rabbit chose to loaf. When the well was done, it was decided that only those who had worked on its construction could drink from it. So rabbit disguised himself as a squirrel and drank his fill. But the squirrel skin that he used soon lost its pliability and he could not continue to use it. Rabbit was able to sneak up at night and get water, but his tracks were evident the next day, so the guardians constructed a scarecrow out of tar pitch. When Rabbit showed up the next night, he confronted the tar baby and said, "Who are you?" but he got no answer. "If you do not answer me, I'll slug you," he said. Again the tar baby said nothing, so Rabbit hit him hard, only to find that his arm stuck fast to his target. Then Rabbit said, "If you don't let go of my arm, I'll kick you," but the tar baby held fast to his arm. So then he kicked the tar baby, but now his leg was also held fast. By the next morning, the well watchers found Rabbit stuck to the tar baby, so they took him prisoner. [5]

The Creek also have a tar baby version. Someone had been stealing peas from a man's garden, so he constructed a tar baby. One night Rabbit came by for some peas and saw someone standing in the garden. He asked him who he was, but recieved no reply. "Answer me or I will hit you," warned Rabbit. Still no reply. So Rabbit socked him hard, but found his fist stuck in his opponent. So he warned him again, but getting no reply, he hit him with his other fist. Now he was stuck in him with both hands. Then he kicked him with first is right foot, then his left, but both times he was held fast. The next morning the farmer found in stuck fast to the tar baby. He pulled him free and tied him to a stake with the intent of killing him with scalding water. While the farmer was gone, Wolf chanced to pass by. "Why are you tied to a stake?" he asked Rabbit. "I couldn't eat all the pigs that were demanded of me, so the farmer is going to kill me." "Well," replied Wolf, "I can do that for you." So Wolf untied Rabbit and began eating all the pigs. When the farmer returned, he saw Wolf up to his old tricks, so he poured the scalding water on him. [6]

The Hitchiti tell a couple of versions of this tale. In one, Rabbit was stealing vegetables from the peoples' gardens. So the people resolved to capture him by fashioning a tar baby and setting it between a row of peas. When Rabbit encountered it, he told it to get out of this way. When it said nothing, Rabbit struck it repeatedly, but every time he got stuck fast. "Well," said Rabbit, "I was only joking. Let's be friends." The tar baby, of course, said nothing and held him fast. The next day the man in charge of the garden came by and beat Rabbit to death. In another variant, Rabbit runs afoul of the Master of Waters by stealing water from him. When Rabbit is caught in the tar baby, the Master of Waters demands to know if it was he who was stealing water from him. Rabbit says it was not he, and the Master of Waters made him swear that he would tell him if he should find out. Upon hearing the promise, Rabbit was released and was never seen there again. [7]

This story has a famous counterpart in the Uncle Remus collection of African-American folktales: the story of Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. In this story, the two nemeses of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear, construct a human figure made entirely of tar -- a "tar baby." Brer Rabbit comes along and says hello to the tar baby, but of course gets no answer. He becomes angry and demands an answer, but the tar baby is naturally silent. Finally, he gets so enraged from the apparent insult tendered him, that he takes a punch at the tar baby, and ends up completely entangled in tar. He is left looking at least as foolish as Trickster.

Links: Trickster, Wood Spirits, Tree Spirits, The Sons of Earthmaker.

Links within the Trickster Cycle: §4. Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean, §6. Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks.

Stories: featuring Trickster as a character: The Trickster Cycle, Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster's Warpath, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Lake Winnebago Origin Myth, The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Trickster Soils the Princess, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Soft Shelled Turtle Gets Married, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, Trickster Concludes His Mission, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Elk's Skull, Trickster and the Mothers, The Markings on the Moon, The Spirit of Gambling, The Woman who Became an Ant, The Green Man, The Red Man, Trickster Takes Little Fox for a Ride, Trickster Loses His Meal, Trickster's Tail, A Mink Tricks Trickster, Trickster's Penis, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, The Scenting Contest, The Bungling Host, Mink Soils the Princess, Trickster and the Children, Trickster and the Eagle, Trickster and the Geese, Trickster and the Dancers, Trickster and the Honey, Trickster's Adventures in the Ocean, Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Trickster Visits His Family, The Coughing Up of the Black Hawks, The Petition to Earthmaker, Warughápara, Hare Secures the Creation Lodge, about Wood Spirits (Wakâtcûna): Visit of the Woodspirit; mentioning trees or Tree Spirits: The Creation of the World, The Twins Retrieve Red Star's Head, The Children of the Sun, The Boy who would be Immortal, The Commandments of Earthmaker, The Woman who Became a Walnut Tree, The Old Woman and the Maple Tree Spirit, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, Trickster Loses His Meal, The Journey to Spiritland (v. 2), Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth, Warughápara, The Chief of the Herok'a, The Red Man, The Shell Anklets Origin Myth, The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, The Spirit of Gambling, Peace of Mind Regained, The Necessity for Death; involving tree stumps: The Twins Cycle, The Two Brothers, The Two Boys, The Were-fish, The Spirit of Maple Bluff, Lake Wâkcikhomîgra (Mendota): the Origin of Its Name.

Themes: traveling over the whole earth: Deer Clan Origin Myth, Trickster and the Dancers, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Necessity for Death, Death Enters the World, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Twins Disobey Their Father, The Twins Get into Hot Water, The Twins Cycle, The Two Boys, The Lost Blanket, The Two Brothers, Bluehorn's Nephews; someone is confronted by a man dressed completely in black: Visit of the Woodspirit, Turtle's Warparty; Trickster mistakes the covering of vegetation for human clothing: Trickster and the Dancers; Trickster thinks that people are ignoring him while performing a certain activity, so he competes with them in this activity only to learn later that the "people" were actually just vegetation seen at a distance: Trickster and the Dancers.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology (New York: Schocken Books, 1956) 13-14. The telling by Felix White, Sr. is almost identical. See Kathleen Ann Danker, The Winnebago Narratives of Felix White, Sr.: Style, Structure and Function, (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, May, 1985 [8521450]) 157-161.

[2] Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 376-377.

[3] Fanny D. Bergen, "Some Customs and Beliefs of the Winnebago Indians," The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 9 (1896): 52-53.

[4] Lewis Spence, The Myths of Mexico and Peru () Chapter V.

[5] "33. The Tar Baby," in John Reed Swanton, Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 88 (1929): 258-259.

[6] "75. The Tar Baby," in John Reed Swanton, Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 88 (1929): 68.

[7] "33-34. The Tar Baby," in John Reed Swanton, Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 88 (1929): 110-111.