Napi: The Trickster

by Hugh A. Dempsey, Alyssa Koski (Illustrator), Pauline Gladstone Dempsey (Foreword)

An enthralling collection of traditional Blackfoot stories revealing the frailty of mankind and the enduring power of narrative.

Napi, the Old Man of the Blackfoot Nation, appears prominently in mythology, sometimes as a quasi-Creator, sometimes a fool, and sometimes a brutal murderer. Although Napi is given credit for creating many of the objects and creatures on Earth, and indeed the Earth itself, the Blackfoot do not consider him to be god-like. Napi stories tell of this mythical figure creating the world and everything in it, but getting into trouble when he starts tinkering with his own creation. Perhaps for this reason, anthropologists have labelled him a trickster/creator.

For thousands of years, people have gathered around the campfire and listened to stories of how Napi blundered and schemed his way through Blackfoot country. They laugh at how Napi was outwitted by a lame fox, how he tried to fly with the geese only to look down when he was told not to and fell to the earth. He makes a perfect subject for telling, listening, and enjoying—and for teaching.

Reproduced by permission of Blackfoot Elders, these stories offer complex insight into an ancient and still-thriving culture through the figure of a flawed yet powerful creature—a mirror of humankind itself.

Genres: Indigenous

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2018

About the author

Hugh Aylmer Dempsey is a well known Canadian historian and writer who has authored twelve books and numerous articles. He is an honorary chief of the Blood Tribe and was the chief curator of the Glenbow Museum. Among the many awards he has received for his writing are the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Alberta History and Award of Merit, Local History Section, Canadian Historical Association. He lives in Calgary.

Reviews

[Tatyaana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great if you'd like to read multiple stories that include farting.

[KendraLee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection of Napi stories is very interesting. And the introduction includes some very useful context of how the stories were used and developed. The author gives some insight into the character of the "trickster" in Aboriginal story telling and how the listeners interpreted the lessons. But I feel like the author is overly concerned with including every single variation from every tribe and getting the story as close to the original as possible. The very nature of oral story telling is that stories are fluid and change with each teller. I think the book would have felt more natural had the author explained this in the intro and then let the stories speak for themselves.

[Ben Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars does not reflect on the writing style, or readability of the text, but rather the content itself. The blurb does not prepare you for the amount of fuckery that Napi gets up to, which is quite weird and sometimes disturbing. Not what I expected which is probably my fault for assuming it would be more 'god-creation' type stories relating to nature, and less 'rape and murder for no reason'. Still pretty interesting overall.

[Eve Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cool book if you’re wanting to learn about Blackfoot culture and stories! Super interesting stories you could bring into a classroom, maybe if you change some of the appendages to different words 😂

[Sanjay Carter-rau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Familiar coyote trickster stories from the source