287
Ananse the Spider is depicted at the
center of the finial of a decorative wood
and gold leaf staff, dating from around
1900, that was carried by a linguist
(storyteller) of the Asante people.See also: San creation myth 284 ■ En-kai and the cattle 285 ■ The Dogon cosmos 288–93 ■ Eshu the trickster 294–97ANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA
Lastly, Ananse trapped the fairy
by putting out a doll covered with
sticky gum—a tar baby—beside a
bowl of yams. The fairy thanked
the doll and, when it did not reply,
touched it and became stuck.
Ananse then carried her off to
Nyame, who was amazed that the
spider had managed to complete
the tasks he had set. True to his
word, he made Ananse the god of
all stories and fables.Clever but unwise
When Ananse had received all the
wisdom in the world, he stored it in
his calabash, a hollowed-out gourd,
then set out to look for a safe place
to hide it. Going into the forest, he
found a tall tree with spiky bark
and decided to climb it and deposit
the calabash high up near its
crown. However, the calabash was
large and, when he tied it in front
of him and tried to climb the tree,
he could not reach out far enough
to grip the trunk, and kept falling
down. Unbeknownst to Ananse,
his young son Ntikuma had
followed him into the forest, and
was laughing at his father. “Whydon’t you tie the calabash behind
you?” suggested Ntikuma, “and
then you will be able to climb the
tree.” Ananse was angry that his
son had watched his failed
attempts, but he followed
Ntikuma’s advice. As he was
rearranging the calabash, however,
it fell to the ground and shattered.
At that very moment, a fierce storm
hit the forest, and torrential rain
washed the contents of the
calabash into the river and out to
the sea. The wisdom of Nyame
spread all over the world, allowing
all people to inherit a share.
As Ananse went home with
Ntikuma, he consoled himself with
the thought that the wisdom had
proved of little value; it had taken a
small child to set him right. ■Very great kings were not able
to buy the sky god’s stories,
but Kwaku Ananse has been
able to pay the price.
African Folktales and
SculptureAnanse and Br’er
RabbitWhen Africans were taken
as slaves to the New World,
their stories went with them.
Ananse’s trickster exploits
traveled to the United States
and the Caribbean with the
Asante people from the Gold
Coast (now Ghana), West
Africa. Another well-known
African-American trickster
figure, however, is Br’er
Rabbit, a figure from the
folklore of south and central
Africa, who became well
known through the Uncle
Remus stories. Narrated by a
fictitious former slave in the
American south, the stories
were adapted and compiled
by Joel Chandler Harris and
were first published in 1881.
The tales of Ananse and
Br’er Rabbit share similar
themes. Br’er Rabbit gets
stuck to a tar baby that Br’er
Fox has left out to trap him.
Ananse, too, is trapped by a
tar baby as he steals his wife’s
peas, and he himself uses a
tar baby to catch a fairy and
complete Nyame’s challenges.US_286-287_Ananse.indd 287 05/12/17 4:16 pm