A bilingual collection of humorous trickster tales, in which women pit their formidable intelligence to outwit villains, husbands, brothers, fathers, and sweethearts. From the kind woman who tricked two men who thought they had robbed her of a ham to the woman who saved her gold by tricking her foolish husband into thinking it had snowed tortillas, these tales cultivate lessons of honesty, goodness, hospitality, and honor―not to mention intelligence and wit to survive. As Joe Hayes points out, “People the world over tell stories of a humble individual tricking an overbearing person of higher status, but the idea is especially cherished in Hispanic storylore. Making the trickster a woman adds spice to the trick.” "A bilingual collection of Southwestern folktales with some tricky women teaching people simple lessons. Humor shines through the fabric of these fables, with bad guys finding that the joke is, invariably, on them.―Bookpaper "Our favorite storyteller, Joe Hayes, goes in for a bit of affirmative action in this collection of his Hispanic folktales. Every one of them features a woman heroine, every one of them is presented in Spanish and English, and every one of them is great fun in the best Joe Hayes style."― New Mexico Magazine [The book] brings together 10 stories of wit, daring and just deserts by Joe Hayes. Each starts with a realistic pencil drawing by Vicki Trego Hill and a paragraph in both English and Spanish, then breaks for easier reading into English text on the left pages and Spanish on the right.―Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal “At once a fun language lesson and a feminist story collection, this serves as a good introduction to folklore that celebrates the poor in the face of hardship.”― Kirkus Reviews "American Southwest storyteller Hayes retells ten folktales, five new and five from the 1994 original edition, with straightforward, often funny text in both English and Spanish. In these tales, women's cunning saves the day from people with unsavory intentions (would-be thieves) or unfortunate habits (husbands who can't keep a secret)."―Shoshana Flax, The Horn Book Joe Hayes is a nationally recognized author and storyteller. Joe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and travels extensively throughout the United States, visiting schools and storytelling festivals.