Rabbit

Rabbit, sometimes called Rabbit Boy, is another trickster figure that is both creator and mischief maker. Many people are surprised when they think of a Rabbit being a powerful trickster, competing with the likes of Coyote. However, there are many examples when Rabbit has thoroughly outsmarted Coyote and made him look like a fool, as well as many individual tales of Rabbit being described as a powerful figure.

//Trickster// takes trickster tales from many different Native American tribes and illustrates them as in a graphic novel. One of the stories "[|How Wildcat Caught a Turkey] ", features Rabbit as the trickster, and was recorded for NPR.

The following excerpt from //American Indian Trickster Tales//, tells a tale of Rabbit the trickster. This tale may sound familiar because a very similar tale was told with the main character being the famous Br'er Rabbit (who is famous in African American tales). A cartoon of this tale may be view [|here.]

"The Rabbit and the Frenchman were two friends. The Rabbit aided the Frenchman, agreeing to work a piece of land on shares. The first season they planted potatoes. The Rabbit, having been told to select his hare of the crop, chose the potato vines, and devoured them all. The next season they planted corn. This year the Rabbit said, 'I will eat the roots.' So he pulled up all the corn by the roots, but he found nothing to satisfy his hunger.' Then the Frenchman said, 'Let us dig a well.' But the Rabbit did not wish to work any longer with his friend. Said he to the Frenchman, 'If you wish to dig a well, I shall not help you.' 'Oho,' said the Frenchman, 'you shall not drink any of the water from the well.' 'That does not matter,' replied the Rabbit. 'I am accustomed to licking the dew from the ground.' The Frenchman, suspecting mischief, made a tar baby, which he stood up close to the well. The Rabbit approached the well, carrying a long piece of cane and a tin bucket. On reaching the well, he addressed the tar baby, who remained silent. 'Friend, what is the matter? Are you angry?' said the Rabbit. Still the tar baby said nothing. So the Rabbit hit him with one forepaw, which stuck there. 'Let me go or I will hit you on the other side,' exclaimed the Rabbit. And when he found that the tar baby pain no attention to him, he hit him with his other forepaw, which stuck to the tar baby. 'I will kick you,' said the Rabbit. But when he kicked the tar baby, the hind foot stuck. 'I will kick you with the other foot,' said the Rabbit. And when he did so, that foot, too, stuck to the tar baby. Then the Rabbit resembled a ball, because his feet were sticking to the tar baby, and he could neither stand nor recline. Just at this time the Frenchman approached. He tied the legs of the Rabbit together, laid him down, and scolded him. Then the Rabbit pretended to be in great fear of a brier patch. 'As you are in such fear of a brier patch,' said the Frenchman, 'I will throw you into one.' 'Oh, no,' replied the Rabbit. 'I will throw you into the brier patch,' responded the Frenchman. 'I am much afraid of it,' said the Rabbit. 'As you are in such dread of it,' said the Frenchman, 'I will throw you into it.' So he seized the Rabbit, and threw him into the brier patch. The Rabbit fell at some distance from the Frenchman. But instead of being injured, he sprang up and ran off laughing at the trick that he had played on the Frenchman.
 * //"Tar Baby"// - Biloxi**
 * < (Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz. p. 181) ||