The Cunning Spider: Ananse's Graveyard Trickery

Once upon a time, in a world where animals still lived together, there resided a spider. His name was Kweku Ananse, and he lived in a village with his relatives and all kinds of creatures. Kweku was one of the village elders, and he had a brilliant idea to get all his friends and relations to help each other. Being farmers, they decided to work on one individual's farm each day, to plough, weed, harvest or do any other necessary work. Kweku put himself in charge of this program, and he ensured that everyone joined in and helped out.

After a month or so, Kweku was relaxing outside his house, and an idea struck him. He thought to himself, "I can see a way to benefit from this arrangement. I could pretend to be sick, and by the time I'm well again, all the work on my farm will be done!" The next day, when his nephew came to call on him, Kweku stayed in his bed and told him, "Oo oo yoo, my dear nephew, this body of mine is really sick today. I'm afraid I can't join you today."

Kweku's nephew told the others that his uncle was sick, and they all decided to help out on Kweku's farm the next day. This continued for several weeks, and Kweku's condition did not improve. One or two people started to complain, "It's all very well us helping out on Kweku's farm, but when is he going to give us a hand?" Kweku heard the complaints and realized that he wouldn't be able to pretend for much longer.

He decided that he would have to make everyone believe that he was really sick. The next day he called some of his relatives together and said to them, "This illness of mine has been going on for some time, and it doesn't look like I'm getting any better. In fact, I feel worse every day. In fact, I think I'm going to die." Some of his relatives protested, "No, no, uncle, you won't die! No, no, my brother, I will call on the medicine man and get you some herbs."

But Kweku told them he was getting weaker all the time and started making his funeral arrangements. "When I die," he said, "you should bury me on my brother Kwami's farm. I have always loved his yams, and I would like to be buried next to them." Kwami agreed, for it's very difficult not to grant a dying man his last wish. Kweku continued giving his instructions: they should dig a nice big hole and line the walls with cloth, so that his spirit would be comfortable. They should put pots and pans and cooking utensils in the grave, so that his spirit would be able to prepare food for himself.

Kweku's relations set to work digging the grave, while Kweku himself pretended that his condition was getting worse all the time. Soon he learned that the grave was finished, so the next time he saw someone approaching his house, he pretended to be dead. They tried to wake him, but Kweku wouldn't wake up, so they decided that he must indeed be dead. The next day, they took his body and laid it in the grave, which had been prepared the way Kweku had instructed. There were pots and pans and cooking utensils.

That same night, Kweku climbed out of the grave and started collecting yams from the field, which he hid in his tomb. He cooked some of them, and when daylight approached, Kweku hid in his tomb and slept. The next night, he collected more yams.

Eventually, Kwami noticed that somebody had been stealing his yams. He thought long and hard, trying to figure out who could be responsible. Normally he would have suspected Ananse, because he knew his cunning brother well, but he was dead. Kwami just couldn't think who else could be doing this to him.

One night, Kwami decided to hide in the field to see if he could catch the thief. To his surprise, he saw his supposedly dead brother, Ananse, emerge from his tomb and start collecting yams. Kwami was shocked and furious. He ran to the village to tell everyone what he had seen.

The villagers were outraged. They had helped Ananse when he claimed to be sick, and in return, he had tricked them and stolen from them. Ananse's reputation was ruined. They decided to hold a meeting to determine how to punish him.

At the meeting, Ananse pleaded for mercy, claiming that he was only trying to provide for himself and his family. The villagers were not convinced. They decided that Ananse needed to be punished, but they also recognized that he was a clever and resourceful spider. They came up with a plan to put his skills to good use.

They assigned Ananse the task of capturing all the stories in the world and bringing them back to the village. Ananse agreed to the task, and he set off on a long journey to collect all the stories he could find.

Ananse traveled far and wide, using his wit and cunning to outsmart various animals and creatures along the way. He collected stories of heroes and villains, of love and loss, of triumph and tragedy. When he returned to the village, he presented the stories to the villagers, who were delighted with his efforts.

From that day forward, Ananse became known as the keeper of all stories. He was celebrated and honored for his role in preserving the culture and history of the village. And even though he had once been a trickster and a thief, Ananse had found a new purpose and a new identity as the weaver of tales.