ABSTRACT
Trickster tales often display substantial ingenuity, describing confidence games that involve multiple complex steps. Wendy Doniger lists motifs from the Motif-Index corresponding to plots of the bedtrick, noting that these motifs encompass "four possible permutations of gender and seeking/avoiding: women, avoiding or seeking; and men, avoiding or seeking". Another widespread family of tales depicting a mean-spirited man tricking his way into a woman's bedroom is Type 882, The Wager on the Wife's Chastity. The motif of the bedtrick is ancient and widespread, occurring in the Old Testament, the Rig Veda and ancient Indian storytelling tradition, Greek myth, the Arabian Nights, several of Shakespeare's plays, various operas, and even movies. The trickster gets what he wants, and—one suspects—his bed partner gets what she wants as well.
