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Anansi the trickster spider is famous throughout western Africa. The first story-cycle on this page comes from Akan people of Ghana, and the second story-cycle comes from the Hausa people of Nigeria. Anansi is also famous in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean because storytellers from western Africa, kidnapped as slaves and taken to the Americas, brought their stories with them. You can read some microfiction Anansi stories from the Caribbean here: Tiny Tales of Anansi.
God and Anansi Make a Bargain
God and Anansi Make a Bargain
"I want all stories to be Anansi-stories!" Anansi shouted.
"Agreed," said God, "provided you bring me Bees in a calabash, alive, and Snake, and also Leopard."
Anansi grabbed a calabash and went to where the Bees lived. He sat on the ground, shaking his head. "Yes!" he shouted. "No? Yes! No?"
"What's wrong?" they asked him.
"God says no, you cannot all fit into this calabash," said Anansi, "but I say yes, you can!"
"Yes!" buzzed the Bees. "Yes, we can!" Then they flew into the calabash.
Anansi sealed the calabash and brought it to God.
"Now Snake!" said God.
Anansi and Snake
Anansi and Snake
Anansi grabbed a long stick and sat down outside Snake's hole, muttering loudly. "He is! Or maybe he isn't? He is! Or maybe not?"
Snake slithered out of his hole and asked, "What'sssss wrong, Ananssssssssi?"
"God says you are not as long as this stick," Anansi replied, "but I say you are."
"Of coursssssse I am asssss long as that sssssstick," said Snake. "I'll prove it!"
Snake wiggled along the stick. Then Anansi grabbed Snake's head and tied it to the stick, and also his tail.
Laughing, Anansi ran back to God and gave him Snake.
"Now Leopard!" said God.
Anansi and Leopard
Anansi and Leopard
Anansi prepared a big cage. Then he sewed his eye shut and went to Leopard's den, singing and laughing.
"Why are you so happy?" asked Leopard.
"I sewed my eye shut," said Anansi, "and now I see the most beautiful things. It's magic!"
"Sew my eye shut too!" roared Leopard. "I want to see the beautiful things!"
Anansi sewed one of Leopard's eyes shut.
"It's not working," Leopard growled.
"I'll sew the other eye," said Anansi.
Now Leopard couldn't see anything. Anansi easily trapped Leopard in the cage and took him to God.
That's how all the stories became Anansi-stories!
"Anansi" is the Akan word for "spider," and the spider-trickster has other names in other traditions. The next story is a Hausa story, and I have called the trickster "Spider" here, but in Hausa, his name is "Gizo."
The Wise Man, Hyena, and Spider
The Wise Man, Hyena, and Spider
A wise man journeying home on horseback stopped to rest.
Hyena saw him. "Help!" she shouted. "I'm late for a funeral. Loan me your horse!"
The man agreed. "But come back soon."
"I will!" lied Hyena. She rode away on the horse, and then killed the horse and ate it.
Spider saw the wise man weeping. "Why do you have a saddle and no horse?" he asked.
"Hyena stole my horse," the wise man replied.
"I'll bring Hyena to you," said Spider. "She can be your horse! Just give me a magic charm as my reward."
"Gladly!" said the wise man.
Riding Hyena
Riding Hyena
Spider took the saddle and went to Hyena's den. "Hey, Hyena!" Spider shouted. "Do you want to come with me to a feast?"
"Of course I do!" said Hyena.
Hyena was running fast, but Spider walked slowly. "Hurry!" said Hyena.
"I can't hurry," said Spider. "I just bought this saddle, and it's heavy to carry."
"I'll carry the saddle," said Hyena.
"Good idea!" said Spider. He put the saddle on Hyena, and then jumped up and spurred her. "Run, Hyena, run!"
Spider rode Hyena back to where the wise man was waiting.
"Here's your new horse!' Spider told him, laughing.
Tying Hyena
Tying Hyena
The wise man gave Spider the charm and then rode away on Hyena.
Spider shouted, "Tie her with a chain! Not a leather cord!"
But the wise man couldn't hear him. "What did he say?" he asked Hyena.
"Tie me with a leather cord," replied Hyena, "not a chain."
When the man got to the city, he tied Hyena with a leather cord. In the night, Hyena ate the cord, and then she ate all the man's chickens and goats.
Hyena was very angry at Spider for the way he had tricked her, but the magic charm kept Spider safe.
Author's Notes.
Anansi's quest to make all the stories his own is one of the most famous African trickster story types. Brer Rabbit goes on a similar quest: Brer Rabbit's Smarts. Sometimes the quest is for stories, like here, or for wisdom, or for a bride, etc. I added the part about Anansi sewing one eye first and then the other eye based on a similar story about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit: Rabbit's Eyeball Candy. In the original story, Anansi gets "Tiger" to sew his eyes shut, but there are no tigers in Ghana; the word "Tiger" is used to refer to a big cat, kind of like the way "lion" is used in the phrase "mountain lion" in English. One of the big cats of Ghana is the leopard, so I used Leopard for this story.
The story about making another animal into a riding horse is usually told in the context of courtship rivalry (like in this Brer Rabbit story), but I really like this version where it is about stealing a horse from a "malam," who is a wise man or magician. When Spider mounts Hyena, the original story describes how that happens item by item: first the saddle-cloth (since Hyena's back is rough), then the saddle, then the bridle (that's so Spider can guide Hyena on the slippery road), and then Spider spurs Hyena so they can get there even faster, and she believes him the whole time. The original story also turns the magic charm into something like "all the stories are Anansi stories" here when the storyteller explains: "That was the beginning when the Spider became popular. In every tale one mentions the Spider."
Bibliography.
"How We Got the Name Spider Tales" in West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair.
"The Malam, the Spider, and the Hyena" in Fifty Hausa Folktales by A. J. N. Tremearne, as told to him by Sarikin Dukawa.
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