There once
lived a spider named Anansi. Anansi had been known to be more curious than he
should be. Anansi was always asking people more personal questions than he
should and trying to get involved with everything that was going on.
One day
Anansi was walking through the forest and he heard some people arguing. He
wanted to know what they were arguing about so badly and to give his opinion.
He walked toward the sound of the conflict. It was coming from the tree tops.
Anansi climbed the tree to see what was going on. When he reached the source of
the conflict, he saw two monkeys arguing.
“What are
you arguing about?” Anansi questioned. “Tell me and I will tell you who is
correct.”
“This is none
of your business!” One of the monkeys exclaimed.
“But I am a
third party member that could give you an unbiased opinion,” Anansi stated.
The monkeys
looked at each other and decided to tell him of their conflict. They were
arguing over who got the fruits from which tree. One monkey believed he owned the fruit from
this tree and the other monkey believed he owned the fruit from this tree. Then
as they told Anansi about the situation, they started arguing all over again.
One monkey
abruptly stopped mid argument and asked, “Anansi, which do you believe owns the
fruit in this tree?”
“Yes,” the
other monkey agreed, “tell us who owns this tree!”
Anansi
declared, “Well, the answer is obvious. This tree belongs to whichever of you
can bring me the most valuable fruit because that monkey surely knows this area
best and undoubtedly owns this tree.”
The monkeys
hurried off to return with the most valuable fruits they could find to bring to
Anansi. They returned shortly with some of the richest fruits Anansi had ever
tasted.
Anansi declared,
“These fruits are of equal excellence therefore in order for me to decide, I
need an even more impressive gift. Whoever brings the most impressive gift
surely deserves to own this tree.” Determined to own the tree, the monkeys
rushed off to find the most valuable gift either of them possessed in order to
be named owner of the tree.
One of the
monkeys returned with a solid gold statue of his father. The other monkey returned with a giant diamond
that had been in his family for years.
Anansi
stated, “These gifts are both great. It will be difficult to decide which the
best is. I will take them back to my home and ponder this once more.”
Anansi
gathered the fruits and treasures and went to his home. He quickly went to the
market and sold both of the treasures for a large sum of money then returned
home with his riches. Days passed and the monkeys had yet to hear who was the
owner of the tree. They went to pay Anansi a visit.
“Anansi,” they demanded, “tell us who does the
tree belong to!”
“You both
brought gifts of equal excellence so it is obvious the tree must be shared
between the two of you.”
The monkeys
were enraged with Anansi’s response. They declared they would settle the matter
on their own and demanded Anansi return the gifts he had taken.
Anansi
responded, “I no longer have those gifts. They were stolen from me on the
journey home.”
The monkeys
were so upset they had not won anything, but had lost their most important
treasures. Word got around of what Anansi had done and this is why spiders are
not trusted.
Author's Note: I read stories from West African Folktales which were collected in the early years of the 20th century from African students at a teacher training center in Accra. I really liked the stories of how things came to be so I thought I would create my own story about why spiders are so disliked.
Very interesting story! It was easy to see that the spider was just tricking them all along; I actually thought the monkeys were going to stomp on Anansi :x. I'm glad you set up the story a bit in the first paragraph so we could learn more about the character.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it's just my laptop resolution, but the picture is larger than your post (like it goes over your column of text/the dark pink section that contains the post). Also, I think it would be better if you went into more depth in the author's note since I'm not sure what the original story is.
Oh goodness, immediately I was iffy to read this story because I hate spiders with a great passion. You can definitely tell the spider was using this argument in his favor, and I could see where this story was headed. Never trust spiders, ah! For some reason the photo is abnormally large? I have not read the original, but I enjoyed reading your take on the story!
ReplyDeleteI like this story! I didn't do this reading, but it sounded interesting. I like how you wrote Anasi--he's a trickster, but still likeable.
ReplyDeleteSince I didn't read the original, I'm not sure if you made any changes, but I like the style of how you wrote this. It sounds like a legit folktale. The writing didn't get in the way of the story, so to speak. Definitely keep it up!
What a fun story! I also wrote a story about an animal using African folklore as my inspiration. I think you did a really great job at creating your own story. You set up the plot nicely and I really like what you did with the story. I felt like I was reading a real myth. I love how your story clearly explains why spiders are not trusted. It was a really entertaining story. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this story! I liked your twist on the original. At first it seemed like the spider was just curious but it was soon revealed that his motives were much more sinister than just mere curiosity! You developed your characters well. It makes sense why spiders would have a terrible reputation. I wonder if they enacted revenge on him for tricking them? Good job!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story! I think that you did an incredible job. It was a really nice twist from the original story. I thought it was great! I was hooked from the first line. I think that you are a wonderful writer. I can't wait to read more of your stories this semester!
ReplyDeleteThat spider was very tricky and he definitely deserved the reputation that he got. I was hooked right from the beginning and it kept my attention throughout the story. I do wonder if he managed to get away with it? Does no one get back the treasure?
ReplyDelete