Ananse and the sky god's stories

 

A long, long time ago, when people were animals and animals were people, the days and nights were long, way too long… Everything was quiet… People were tired of listening to nothing. Mouths were idle, ears were empty. That was so because there were no stories to tell. 

 

There, at that far, far away time, lived a being called Ananse, who spent hours hanging and swaying and weaving thoughts. He wandered how people would remember him after he died. Oh, how he would love to do great deeds and be among the heroes who set their feet – or paws – on this earth. But he had no idea what to do.

 

So, one starry night, he fell asleep and had a dream – he dreamt of Nyame, the sky god, who was sitting next to a big wooden chest, with beautifully carved drawings, used to store stories – every single one that existed. Even before waking up, Ananse knew what to do: he would fetch the marvelous chest and bring it down to earth. That was the great feat he was looking for: Ananse´s stories – and he said it out loud time and time again. It would be honorable and notable to be remembered every evening when people gathered around the fire to tell stories.

 

He came down and stretched all his eight paws. He tied a leaf to a branch, a branch to a vine and a vine to another leaf, the leaf to a trunk and … Ananse weaved and climbed, climbed and weaved a very transparent and fine web – but as strong as steel – a web that connected down here and up there. All of a sudden, he found himself in Nyame´s sky palace. He was taken to his presence and, after bowing, respectfully, each one of his eight paws, he said:

 

“Oh, mighty sky god, I wish to buy your story chest and take it down to earth. 

 

Nyame stopped, looked straight at Ananse and he did not even try to hold his laughter.

 

“Ha-ha! A tiny creature like you cannot pay the price I ask!

 

Ananse was undettered and quietly waited for the laughter to subside.

 

“Oh, my, it is so good to have a good laugh. Well, well. So, in order to have the story chest, you must bring me three creatures who were never captured before. Wowa, the deadly bees, Aboatia, a mischievous forest dwarf, and Nanka, the killer serpent. If you complete these tasks, I will give you my precious chest. Otherwise… well, there will be no otherwise, because if you cannot do it, that means you died while trying.”

 

Ananse was small, but his cunning was huge. He, like nobody else, knew the weakness of the great. So he promised that, in three days, he would bring Nyame the three creatures. He bowed once more, paid his reverence, and came down, using the same web, already weaving his plans. And, in the following morning, the sun had barely risen when he started his journey.

 

He walked around the forest to find the hive, taking a huge gourd with him. He knew the Wowa could get angry and sting as hell. That is why he slowed his pace when he heard a loud buzz. He greeted the Wowa in a friendly manner:

 

“Hello, my friends! You are many! Impressive! I´ve been told that you are almost two hundred!

 

“No, not twoooo hundred! We are threee hundred!”, the bees corrected from the hive.

 

“Three hundred? Well, it looks to me you are two hundred.

 

“Threee hundred!”, buzzed one of the workers. 

 

Ananse insisted and the bees became nervous and counted and yelled numbers and… 

 

Ananse raised one of his paws and said in a decisive way:

 

“Ladies, please! Let´s settle this issue once and for all, shall we? If you allow me, I can count you. All you have to do is to fly inside this gourd, one by one.” 

 

The bees agreed and they did as they were told; first, the workers, then the chief worker and, finally, the queen.

 

“How many are we?” the Wowa asked.

 

“Three hundred and thirteen!”, answered Ananse, and he closed the lid of the gourd.

 

All the bees buzzed and banged, but Ananse put the gourd on his web and rested.

 

As soon as the sun rose, Ananse continued with his plan. He went after Aboatia, a creature from the forest. He was so small that it was almost impossible to see him. It was almost impossible to capture him.

 

Ananse was aware of that and prepared himself for the mission. He grabbed a ripe banana bunch and started dragging it to the middle of the forest, saying out loud:

 

“Oh, I´m so tired! These bananas are sweet as honey but carrying them made me exhausted. I´m going to leave it here and come back for it tomorrow morning.” 

 

Big lie. He turned around and hid behind some banana leaves. In no time, Aboatia showed up.

 

“Bananas! My favorite food! I´m going to eat them right away!”, he said, licking his lips.

 

He ate one, two, three. Four, five, six… He ate so many bananas, he became completely stuffed. So, he sat down, lied down, turned belly down, and started to moan. He could barely move. 

 

Ananse came out of his hiding place, whistling. When the Aboatia saw him, he tried to run, but he slipped on a banana peel, and fell, belly up. Ananse grabbed him and wrapped him in a banana leaf. Ananse came home with the Aboatia wrap and put him in his web.

 

Next day, Ananse stretched his eight paws and followed the river where Nanka, the serpent, used to swim.

 

“Hello, Nanka! Your beauty is really impressive. The drawings on your shining skin are gorgeous.  You must be the longest creature on earth.” 

 

“Yes, I am the most beautiful and the longest of them all.” 

 

“Sure!”, agreed Ananse. “You are probably longer than this bamboo.

 

The serpent readily crawled and placed itself along the bamboo. Ananse stepped back, pretending he was analyzing, with a doubting look. 

 

“Well, what do you think? Aren´t I the longest?”

 

“Your neck and your tail won´t stop moving. Let me tie them for a moment so we can settle this matter.”

 

Ananse tied the serpent with all his eight agile paws to the bamboo. Nanka was immobilized as if it had tasted its own venom. And it was soon in the web, with Wowa and Aboatia.

 

Ananse weaved a cocoon around them and made a silvery and long web to the sky. He climbed up with his trophies on his back and arrived in the sky palace, where he gently put on Nyame´s feet the never before captured creatures. 

 

Nyame´s eyes were wide open and he said out loud:

 

“Those who do great deeds are really grand. From now on, my chest and my stories are yours, Ananse.”

 

Ananse thanked Nyame, bowed and reverenced the sky god, and came down, carrying the chest on his back.

 

When Ananse opened the chest, he carefully weaved the golden thread of stories, making a great web, able to sustain a village, a people, a nation, the whole Earth. That is why, in the heart of Africa or in any corner of the world, when a story is told, Ananse is remembered. That is why, since the beginning of time, when people were animals and animals were people, we have stories to tell.   

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West African traditional tale. 

From uma história e uma história e uma história - contos dos contos da tradição oral, by Ana Gibson and Juliana Franklin.