Tracing the Story Themes
Around the World
Now that you have met Anansi the Spider, let's
explore how his character changed as the folklore of Africans
travelled across the seas, and in some cases back to Africa.
As the
African story was retold, the storytellers began to incorporate
elements of their new environments into the original Anansi
folktale.
The source story for our African folktale is an Akan-Ashanti legend. It tells how Kwaku Anansi, the first spider-man, met the challenges that the set for his stories. In this way, we learn how stories came to earth. We also begin to see the small spider as the "spinner," a weaver of stories, and very, very talented. In many other cultures, as well, the keeper of wisdom is a weaver. In all cases, the weavers understand the "connections" between cause and effect, beginnings and endings, the world above and the world below.
By hearing the
Ashanti
legend about
Anansi the
spider-man, we meet an important character.
Anansi
is the one who knows the ins and outs of life. In the many "Spider
Stories" that make up the folklore of West Africa, he plays the
central character. In fact, all the folktales of the Ashanti people
are known as Anansesem--spider tales--even if spider is not in
them.
These stories are used to bring out a moral of correct behavior and are usually told after dark, when everyone can listen. Often it is Anansi himself who behaves badly, foolishly, or without any thought for anyone else. In this way, his stories--his spinnings--are teaching tales.
Spider
stories are told over a wide stretch throughout West Africa, and as
far away to the southeast as the Congo region. But in other parts of
Africa, the hare, the turtle, or the monkey are the small characters
who learn to outsmart the larger animals around them.
So, in our other West African folktale, from Liberia, "How Hare Became Wise," we find the rabbit in place of the spider, seeking the gift of cunning from a powerful chief. This story plot is very similar to Anansi going to the Sky-god to find stories. These small creatures were concerned with more than their survival; they wanted to be smarter within their own environment.
Stories
about spider and hare traveled with the West African people to the
West Indies. There, Anansi became "Aunt Nancy" or "Sister Nancy,"
though in our Jamaican folktale,
"Tiger Story, Anansi
Story," spider keeps his Ashanti name. In
this Jamaican story, the Sky-god has become a tiger (a translation of
leopard), the strongest animal in the countryside. Though he gives
Anansi only two tasks to perform and not four, Anansi shows us his
clever skill while the green parrot and other tropical creatures look
on.
Hare became "Tio Conejo" in Latin America--as featured in our folktale from Nicaragua by that name. The Sky-god has a new name, Papa Dios, and a keen sense of humor in this tale. But when Tio Conejo meets the challenges set by Papa Dios, he learns the exact same lesson as Hare does in our Liberian story.
In the
United States, Hare became
"Brer
Rabbit"--as in our retelling of "Brer Rabbit
and the Tar Baby." The antics of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox reflect
bits and pieces of our original Ashanti legend. For example, the
Tar
Baby is similar to the wooden Akua's child
that Anansi uses to catch
Mmoatia,
the fairy, for the Sky-god. But Brer Rabbit has the quick wit needed
to overcome an old Anansi trick and to survive.
No matter their names, or what language they speak, the characters remain the same in "Spider Stories." They always let us know that the best way to behave is with an understanding of motives and action--your own and others. They tell us their stories from a store of wisdom, and with a voice that is, after all these many centuries, amazingly alert and alive.
They are the spinners--weavers of the web of life!