"From the short story, Coyote and the fish dam"
             How is a trickster classified? Do they wear make-up like clowns or do they wear bright colors like jesters? Tricksters have certain characteristics to be considered a trickster. They also plot a trick, which backfires but benefits the humans or the gods. The tricksters' trick teaches a lesson as well as a truth. Although people commonly think of a clown or a jester when dealing with tricksters, a coyote can also qualify as one.
             Tricksters need to follow certain requirements to be considered as a trickster. In "Coyote and the Fish Dam", Coyote was shown to have the characteristics of a trickster. First a trickster is always a male. "His foot slipped on a rock" was mentioned very early in the myth showing that he is a male. Likewise, Coyote was also referred to as being male when "they pulled a baby boy out of the fire." He also associated between his people and the gods in the myth. In this case his people were other coyotes and the gods were the two ladies, which he encountered. Coyote had come upon the ladies when, "In the morning the two women came to see whether they caught any salmon and one of them saw coyote." After he spent time with the ladies and he fulfilled his trick "Coyote was running up the river" and we can assume he was running up to his people. Another characteristic of a trickster is that they are shape shifters. In the myth Coyote fell into the river and was not a good swimmer, "So he changed himself into a piece of wood." Again Coyote shape shifts from a wooden bowl, to a boy, when, "Immediately she heard a baby boy." All of these were just some examples of the requirements Coyote had to fulfill being a true trickster.
             The trick always backfires on the trickster but ends up benefiting his people and the gods. This is evident through out the myth "Coyote and the Fish Dam"...