Wakdjâkaga was the first of the great demigods created by Earthmaker to rescue mankind. When Earthmaker had completed his creation, almost as an afterthought he made man, the weakest of all his creations. They were soon beset by evil spirits who assailed them without pity and were in danger of altogether destroying this last article of creation. So Earthmaker created Trickster in the image of a man, and charged him to go forth and teach the humans how they should live. Yet it is said that he was as worthless as an infant crawling about on all fours. So foolish was he that he did more damage than good. Consequently, Earthmaker recalled him and placed him at his right hand. [1] Trickster rules over a heaven just below that of Earthmaker. There dwell all those who have died of old age and all those who have kept the Medicine Rite. [2]

Trickster is at least a negative role model among the Hotcâgara today, and people who behave in a foolish or hypocritical manner are often brought to task by having their actions compared to those of Trickster. [3] Sometimes people who act selfishly also are said to be "playing Wakdjâkaga." [4]

Links: The Sons of Earthmaker, Hare, Earthmaker, Turtle, Bladder, Spirits, The Cosmic Ages of the Hotcâgara, Cosmography, One Legged One, Skunks, Raccoons, Minks, Owls, Little Fox, Horses, Wolf & Dog Spirits, Tree Spirits, Ducks, Bears, Chipmunks, Grasshoppers, Ants, Rock Spirits, Wood Spirits, Lice, The Twins, Martens, Fishers.

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, The Pointing Man, 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; cycles of other great soteriological spirits: Hare Cycle, Redhorn Cycle, Twins Cycle; about Trickster's penis: Trickster's Penis, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis.

Themes: spirits come to earth in order to rescue humanity from enemies who threaten their existence: The Mission of the Five Sons of Earthmaker, Bladder and His Brothers, Baldheaded Warclub Origin Myth, Grandfather's Two Families, The Hare Cycle, The Hotcâgara Contest the Giants, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, The Raccoon Coat, Redhorn's Sons, The Redhorn Cycle, The Roaster, Spear Shaft and Lacrosse, The Spirit of Gambling, The Reincarnated Grizzly Bear, The Trickster Cycle, Wodjidjé, Redhorn's Father; a great spirit changes his form in order to decieve someone: The Skunk Origin Myth (Turtle), The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster's Tail, Trickster Gets Pregnant, The Elks Skull, Trickster Soils the Princess, Old Man and White Feathers; a spirit assumes the form of another person: Old Man and White Feathers, Trickster, the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Meadow Lark, Trickster and the Mothers; a man's meal is stolen before he can eat it: Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Trickster Loses His Meal, A Mink Tricks Trickster, A Raccoon Tricks Four Blind Men; Trickster hunts buffalo: Trickster's Buffalo Hunt, The Woman Who Became an Ant; Trickster defecates uncontrollably after taking a natural laxative: Trickster Soils the Princess, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb; trees cause Trickster to suffer: Trickster Loses His Meal, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb; a voice, which appears to be disembodied, speaks to Trickster: Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb; Trickster turns into a woman and goes courting: Trickster Gets Pregnant, Trickster Gets Pregnant; Trickster takes someone's clothes so that they are forced to return to their village naked: Trickster Soils the Princess, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster; Trickster is the victim of a trick: Trickster Soils the Princess, The Abduction and Rescue of Trickster, The Baldness of the Buzzard, Trickster's Anus Guards the Ducks, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Elk's Skull, A Mink Tricks Trickster, The Markings on the Moon; Trickster wins a contest by cheating: The Spirit of Gambling, The Green Man, The Scenting Contest; Trickster fools Coyote: Trickster Takes Coyote for a Ride, The Scenting Contest; animals insult Trickster as he sojourns on earth: Trickster's Warpath, Trickster Loses Most of His Penis, The Medicine Rite Foundation Myth, v. 4; Trickster mistakes the covering of vegetation for human clothing: Trickster and the Dancers, The Pointing Man; 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, The Pointing Man.

Notes:

[1] Paul Radin, The Winnebago Tribe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 [1923]) 303.

[2] Paul Radin, "A Wakjonkaga Myth," Winnebago Notebooks (American Philosophical Society Library) [unpublished], #37, pp. 1-70.

[3] Walter Funmaker, The Winnebago Black Bear Subclan: a Defended Culture (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota: December, 1986 [MnU-D 86-361]]) 107-108.

 [4] Kathleen Danker and Felix White, Sr., The Hollow of Echoes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978) 11.