Matthews, Caitin & John. Illustrated by Tomislav Tomic. Tricks of the Tale: A Collection of Trickster Tales from Around the World.

Title of myth: How the Raven Stole Back the Light

Characters: Raven; Tupalik (great magician); Tupalik’s daughter; Tupalik’s wife; the sun; the Inuit people

Setting: Somewhere in Inuit territory (Canada)

Theme: folktale; myths; legends; anthology and collections; explanation of natural phenomena (periods of darkness that occur in the Northern hemisphere)

Genre: Traditional literature; folklore; ancient myths; oral traditions; trickster tale

Golden Quote: “…every now and then Tupalik manages to steal back the sun. But clever Raven always manages to return it to us.”

Summary: Enter (carefully) the world of the tricksters, those wily creatures who lie their way out of trouble, cheat when they get a chance, and devise elaborate tricks to get what they want - with delightfully unpredictable results. This truly diverse, elegantly illustrated collection follows such clever characters as Anansi, Coyote, Brer Rabbit, and others who play a role in a multicultural array of storytelling traditions, from African to Inuit to European, Tibetan to Native American to Japanese.
Celebrate the slyest trickster tales from around the world in a lavish volume that gives a well-loved story tradition its rightful due

Summary of myth: This tale, from the Inuit people of Canada, shows how a trickster could sometimes by helpful to mankind.
Tupalik, a great magician, stole the light of the sun for himself and his family. Because the people had no sunlight, they were growing weak and dying. They sought out Raven to save them. This tale tells the story of how the beloved trickster character, Raven, brought back the light to save the Inuit people.

Audience: Grades 3 and up

Curriculum ties: unit on different cultures’ traditional folklore and myths; compare and contrast different versions from other parts of the world; students can research folklore of their own ancestry, what are the common elements of trickster tales?
Awards: None

Personal response: Raven is a reoccurring trickster animal found in the folklore of the Inuit culture of Canada and in other cultures of the Pacific Northwestern part of the United States which illustrates the theme that sometimes trickery can be used for good. Raven comes to the rescue by infiltrating the home of Tupalik, disguising himself as a feather floating down the river just as Tupalik’s daughter is gathering water, and is intentionally ingested by her in order to transform into her immaculately conceived son. In an attempt to try to take the light, the baby Raven child screams and cries until Tupalik is will to give him anything he wants to stop making a fuzz. When he makes a gesture to hold the bag with the sun in it, Raven releases the sun at once and turns back in Raven the bird to reveal his true form. Through his clever trickery, he is able to restore the light back to the people and is revered as a sympathetic hero to the Inuit people. Raven possesses the characteristics of cleverness, sympathy, and callousness, all of which are also aspects of some trickster creatures found in traditional literature. ( )