Iktomi Loses His Eyes: A Plains Indian Story

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Summary: Can you believe it? Now Iktomi has gone and lost his eyes
Review: By the time you get to "Iktomi Loses His Eyes," the seventh adventure of the legendary Lakota Trickster, the title alone should have you rolling your own eyes at to what he could possibly do to lose his eyes. Not that we put anything past him. After all, Paul Goble has made it clear in these stories that Iktomi, which means "spider" in the Lakota language, is an interesting mixture of cleverness, untrusthworthiness, and stupidity. Although the morals for these stories are never explicit like they are at the end of Aesop's fables, clearly Iktomi stories serve as examples of how not to behave.

Anyhow, Iktomi was walking along (which we know is how all Iktomi stories start out) and complaning that nobody likes him. So he dresses himself up like a great warrior to make himself feel better and as he goes out with his great-great-great-great grandfather's stone-headed tomahawk looking for somebody to crack over the head he discovers a man doing a strange thing. He appears to be talking to himself, but really he is doing a magic trick in which he orders his eyes to fly from his head to some place and then return. Iktomi begs for the man to teach him this wonderful trick and the man agrees. But the man warns Iktomi not to do the trick more than four times a day because then something bad happens. Iktomi, of course, is not really listening because he is already imagining how everybody will think him the cleverest person in the whole world, while the readers have a good idea of how Iktomi is going to lose his eyes.

You would think that loses his eyes would make an impression on Iktomi, but you know that is not going to happen. Iktomi is not going to go home to face Mrs. Iktomi without eyes, even if they are not the two eyes he had in the first place. Goble, whose India ink and watercolor illustrations are filled with authentic details with regards to the dress and possessions of the Plains Indians, makes a point of always explaining that these stories are meant to be told aloud, with the listeners being given ample opportunity to make their own comments ridiculing Iktomi and making fun of his problems (that is why even though Iktomi's thoughts are printed in small type they are not mean to be read aloud). My only concern is that in Native American myths and legends the Trickster is often a force for good, but that aspects of Iktomi never gets covered in Goble's stories.

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Summary: Iktomi the trickster, again on a hilarious misadventure.
Review: The trickster of the Lakota, IKTOMI is once again teaching young readers (and Old) a moral story without the sermon. The seventh book of the Iktomi series, this one is a masterpiece of visual illustrations that we have come to expect of Paul Goble's work. Iktomi runs afoul of a scoundrel that swindles Iktomi in a land deal swap for a worthless game/trick. Iktomi quickly breaks the rules of the game, of course, and loses his eyes. The trickster then manages to persuade the mouse and buffalo to donate an eye apiece to Iktomi. Therein ensues some hilarious escapades that will delight the young reader and bring a smile to the adult. My two clildren were laughing so hard at Iktomi's self-inflicted predicaments. The beautiful artwork, and clever tale makes a superb story that will be long remembered; as all Iktomi tales are meant to be... Highly recommended for ages 3 - 10, and of course adults of any age. A must have for the library storyteller.