The Trickster and the Troll

by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

1998 WWA Spur Awards, Finalist in Best Western Juvenile Fiction

The friendship and adventures of Iktomi, the trickster figure from Lakota legend, and Troll, the familiar character from Norse mythology, are the subject of this imaginative, marvelously spun tale. While searching for his Norwegian immigrant family, the gentle, lumbering Troll meets Iktomi. The vain, opportunistic Trickster soon discovers that he too has lost his people, the Lakota. When Iktomi and Troll eventually find their peoples, they are neither recognized nor wanted. The lonely Trickster and the Troll find solace in their friendship and take refuge in a cave. Many years pass before they are rediscovered and loved again.

Genres: Indigenous, Fiction, Young Adult

110 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve was born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. She was the daughter of an Episcopal priest and a Lakota Sioux mother. Sneve received her B.S. and M.Ed. in 1954 and 1969, respectively, from South Dakota State University. She has taught English in public school of South Dakota, and at the Flandreau Indian School in Flandreau. Her career also includes editor at the Brevet Press in Sioux Fall, S.D. Sneve is a member of the board of directors, Native American consortium, Corporation for Public Broadcasting ; member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe; member of board of directors of United Sioux Tribes Cultural Arts; and Historiographer of the Episcopal Church of South Dakota.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Trickster and the Troll, Lakota author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve presents a textually delightful imagined encounter between two well-known trickster figures, between the Sioux Iktomi and the Norwegian Troll. And with The Trickster and the Troll Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve draws on her own tribal heritage for the character of Iktomi and her husband's Scandinavian cultural background for the Troll character, with Driving Hawk Sneve explaining in her author's note that the idea for The Trickster and the Troll came from this dual cultural heritage of her children (and she then goes on to explain the nature of the Sioux trickster and the Norwegian Troll and that the stories about and of them are in fact pretty similar in nature and in tone). For generally, both Iktomi and Troll are portrayed in the tales that feature them as mischievous, cruel, helpful or kind, and as trickster figures not generally ever learning all that much from their misadventures, from their mistakes, that both Iktomi and Troll are well loved and appreciated characters in both Sioux and Norwegian culture and tradition, that the tales of Iktomi and of Troll are often (were often) told to children by parents or elders as entertainment as well as teaching tools, and that for Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, creating a story featuring both Iktomi and Troll thus totally makes sense and also honours both Sioux and Norwegian folklore and tradition.

Now I really have enjoyed The Trickster and the Troll as a story in and of itself, and I also appreciate that Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve makes the encounter between Iktomi and Troll believable, makes it an actual possibility, with Iktomi meeting Troll when Troll comes to America with his Norwegian family (who are of course settlers). And after a confrontational first contact in The Trickster and the Troll (and which definitely makes sense for two trickster like characters), Iktomi and Troll soon begin to find qualities of value in the other, and realise that they are so very similar in temperament that in fact they become friends and colleagues as they both try to relocate their cultural groups (as both have become separated from them both physically and culturally, Iktomi from the Sioux and Troll from his Norwegian family and their equally Norwegian neighbours).

Showing how with the opening of the West, the Sioux and other Native American tribes suffered and found life increasingly difficult with European settlers setting up farms and the buffalos disappearing, The Trickster and the Troll also has Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve demonstrating that life for many of the European newcomers was hard as well, having to adjust to new ways and to also often be forced to or feel obligated to abandon their cultural traditions, their languages and indeed also their stories and the characters of their their tales to become generically American (like Troll is left behind). And while by the end of The Trickster and the Troll both Iktomi and Troll do manage to locate people from their perspective cultures who wish to relearn about their heritage and background, in many ways the ending for The Trickster and the Troll is rather bittersweet, as there is a clear point made in Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve's text that only a few individuals from either Iktomi's and Troll's people really do want to welcome them back, that the impact of the settlement has lastingly and permanently affected both Native Americans and the immigrants themselves (and that one of the main casualties is the loss of traditional storytelling, and cultural icons like Iktomi and Troll).

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based around a clever, thought-provoking idea. I found it interesting, if not engrossing, with a definite folklore feel. It serves as a reminder that stories need to be told; the thing I wish it had brought out more was that, while stories need us, we also need stories--especially the ones that remind us of where we came from and who we are.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this tale, Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve combines two cultures, that of the Lakota Sioux and that of the Norwegians, by using a mythical character from each. Iktomi, the trickster of the Sioux, encounters a troll, who came over to America with his people from Norway and then lost them. Iktomi reluctantly helps troll find his people, and then leaves to seek his own people. Both Iktomi and Troll discover, to their dismay, that their people have changed. The Lakota Sioux are worn out with defeat by the white men, and the Norwegians are pressed to forget their heritage and become Americans. Lonely, the two beings meet again and live together in the Black Hills for many years, watching as the white man encroach on the land and make changes. Will anyone ever remember them?

I enjoyed the mixing of the two cultures very much, and observing some of the parallels. Sneve even uses phrases in Sioux and Norwegian, especially in the beginning when Iktomi and Troll are trying to understand each other. This story particularly pointed out the conflict between being "American" and preserving one's ethnic heritage and customs. I felt bad for Oline, Thor's wife, who wanted to preserve the Norwegian customs, but whose husband wouldn't allow it. I've read that many Scandinavian women who emigrated to the prairie, where the land was so flat and the fellowship of other women so few and far between, ended up going mad, and I can believe it. Oline, who never wanted to leave Norway, not only had to suppress her customs and traditions, but also had to endure the hardships of farm life and childbearing alone. This book would be great for a discussion on the experience of prairie life by the two sexes and also on what "American" really meant then and what it means now.

I highly recommend this short book, suitable for upper elementary children on up.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect grandma's tale, blending two cultures together into one.

[Dan Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful blending of Lakota and Norwegian mythical figures set as part of the Settling of the Lakota lands.