Essay: Tricksters and Fools in African Stories (Lang)

One common theme in the unit of African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books was the theme of tricksters and fools. Basically every story presented had this theme, and the tricksters and fools were most often depicted by animals.

In the first tale, for example, the trickster is Motikatika, and the fool is the ogre trying to eat him. Motikatika tells the story that promises an ogre that he can eat her son in exchange for some water. When the magical child finds out about this, he figures out how to outsmart his mother and the ogre several times using magic items and his powers of transformation. In the end, he fools the ogre into eating his father instead of him because he says that his father is the one that deserves to be eaten since he was the one that wanted the water.

(The ogre and the mother)

In some stories, the trickster is also the fool. For example, in Jackal and Spring, the jackal both tricks others and then himself gets tricked. He fools the rabbit and the hare into letting him drink from the well because he wants to offer them honeycomb and will only do it if they tie themselves up first. The jackal is the fool in the end, however, because the tortoise guarding the well doesn't fall for his tricks and latches onto his leg when he tries to get a drink of water. He then gets shamed by all of the other animals that come to see if the tortoise has done his job.

The trickster also becomes the fool in Adventures of a Jackal. The jackal and his hedgehog friend trick the panther, then the panther tries to trick the jackal. Failing to do so, the panther gives up. Then, the jackal ends up getting tricked by the shepherd from whom he tries to get a sheep. The shepherd disguises a dog with sheep's wool, and when the jackal tries to eat him, the dog kills the jackal.