Anansi and Turtle

The ancient people of Africa didn’t leave mummies or clay tablets behind them. But they did leave stories, passed down from person to person.

Anansi the Spider is a favorite character of African storytellers.

nansi the Spider was hungry! He had dug some of the fattest yams ever out of his garden, and had baked them carefully in his clay oven. Now they were ready to come out. The yams smelled wonderful, and he couldn’t wait to dig in.

But just as he was sitting down to his meal, along wandered Turtle. Now, Anansi and Turtle were friends. But when Anansi looked at his yams and then looked at Turtle, he thought, “There are just enough yams for me! If Turtle eats half them, I’ll still be hungry!”

“Oh, Anansi!” Turtle said. “How wonderful those yams smell! It has taken me all day to crawl over to your house for a visit, and I haven’t eaten my lunch or my supper. Please, share your yams with me.”

Now, in Africa it is the custom to share your meal with any visitor who asks. So Anansi couldn’t say no. He said grumpily, “I would be happy to share my yams with you, Turtle. Have a seat. Help yourself.”

Turtle sat down and reached for the fattest yam. But just as he was about to touch it, Anansi shouted, “Stop! Are you going to eat with those filthy flippers? Really, Turtle, don’t you think you should wash off first?”

Now, Turtle had been crawling all day.

“Where should I wash?” he said.

“Go wash in the river,” Anansi said. “It’s only half a mile away.”

Poor Turtle! He got up and crawled off to the river to wash his flippers. By the time he came back, the yams were half gone. Anansi said with his mouth full, “Sorry, Turtle, you were so long that I had to start eating. But go ahead and have some yams.”

Turtle reached for the yams. But his flippers had gotten dirty again from his journey back up from the river. “Turtle!” Anansi yelled. “Didn’t I say that you should wash yourself off? Don’t come to the table dirty!”

Turtle crawled wearily off to wash himself again. When he climbed slowly back up from the river, he was very careful to stay on the grass. But when he got to the table and reached out his clean flipper for a yam, the last crumbs were gone.

Turtle looked sadly at the empty platter.

“Well,” he said, after a little while, “thank you for inviting me to supper, Anansi. The next time you come by my house, be sure to share my dinner with me.”

And he got down and crawled away, still hungry.

A few days later, Anansi was going by Turtle’s house on the riverbank. “Turtle told me that he would share his food with me,” he thought. “I’ll stop and eat with him.” So he bounced up and knocked on Turtle’s door. “Turtle, Turtle!” he cried. “I’m ready for supper!”

Turtle opened the door and blinked at Anansi. “Supper is all ready,” he said. “Come along with me. It’s right down here.” And with that he led Anansi to the river’s edge. “I’ve set the table right down there at the bottom of the water,” he said. “Dive on down and eat.” And with that he slipped into the water, swam down to the river’s bottom, and started to eat.

Anansi ran back and forth on the bank. First he tried jumping into the water.

Finally Anansi stuffed the pockets of his tiny jacket full of pebbles and jumped back into the water. He sank like a stone right down to the bottom, where Turtle was eating his way through a whole platter full of delicious food.

Turtle pushed the platter over. “Here,” he said. “Have some. But first, Anansi, take off your jacket. It’s so rude to wear a coat at the table.”

Anansi took off his jacket. And as soon as it was off his shoulders, he popped right back up to the surface of the water. When he stuck his head underwater, he could just see Turtle finishing off the very last morsel of food.

“Thank you for supper, Turtle,” he said gloomily. And he swam back to the river bank, wet and hungry.

Moral: If you try to be too smart, you might find that someone else outsmarts you instead.