Aftican Story Telling in Central Park Location: The Peter Jay Sharp Children's Glade, Central Park, (West 103rd Street to West 106th Street) Sunday, May 18, 1:00 p.m. FREE Every Sunday, from May through September, free multicultural performances and family art workshops are held in Central Park. These events feature a range of established and emerging performing artists and are performed by some of New York City's leading cultural institutions. This weekend will be Yoruba myth-telling and West African beading workshop with the Museum for African Art. The Yoruba people, an ethnic group that populates Nigeria and other nearby West African regions, follow a religion with a history of colorful mythology and beautiful spiritual handicrafts. Hear Nigerian myths about Olokun, the Yoruba God of waters, wealth, and fertility. Learn about shrines dedicated to this Yoruba deity, and create your own beaded necklace in the style of the Yoruba to take home with you. Feel free to bring a blanket and picnic lunch. See the whole line-up of these events on the Central Park website. African Trickster Puppet Show Tribeca PAC Sunday May 18, 3pm $25 General This award-winning marionette performance is a humorous selection of famous folktales from Africa starring Anansi the Spider, one of the classic trickster characters in world folklore, whose appetite always overrules his intellect. Anansi loves to eat and hates to work, so he tries to trick other animals out of their food. But there's no free lunch for Anansi, because all of his schemes leave him hungrier than ever. These comical African folktales are both entertaining and instructive; because he puts his own desires ahead of the needs of his community, Anansi often ends up exiled to the corner of the room. To purchase tickets visit TribecaPAC.org. Coyote's Dance Ailey Group Theater, 405 West 55th Street Sunday, May 18th, 11:00 AM Tickets: $15 Reservations: 212-715-1914 or contactus@treehouseshakers.com Coyote is a perfect trickster character. And this may be the perfect telling of his stories. Performed on a stage mostly covered in trampolines, kids will adore watching as Coyote does his trickster best to cause trouble, sometimes making bad decisions and get himself into trouble. These trickster stories about coyote sometimes teach a lesson and sometimes just make kids laugh. Children's Festival at the National Museum of American Indian "Tenas Sun" Youth Day Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18, 2008, noon - 5 p.m. FREE

Celebrate the culture of the North Pacific Coastal American Indians in this two-day festival. Activities include interactive dance demonstrations and folk storytelling with the Git-Hoan Dancers led by renowned Tsimshian artist, David Boxley; hands-on workshops featuring bent wood boxes, canoes, and button blankets. While at the museum you can catch some of the free daily films that depict more American Indian folktales.

To continue to enjoy trickster stories at home, pick up some of the many great children's books of trickster stories. My son loves the trickster books by Gerald McDermott. The series covers different animal trickster tales from different cultures around the world, including Raven, Rabbit and Coyote, in wonderfully illustrated children's books. Buy trickster books at Amazon by clicking here.